Illness pradesh

8220;Forty-seven per cent of children are underweight, 46 per cent are stunted, 14 per cent are too thin for their height,8221; says the report. Even more alarming is that the number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births in the last few years stand at 73.

Experts in the Union Health Ministry say that while there has been considerable improvement in other states like Bihar 8212; which also faced similar problems until recently 8212; UP8217;s predicament stems from the low literacy rate and the prevalence of unsanitary living conditions.

8220;People in UP stay in close-knit, crowded areas, which results in unhygienic conditions and consequently means more diseases,8221; said a senior official in the ministry. Illiteracy serves to exacerbate the situation.

According to the NFHS, 54 per cent of women get no education and this may have something to do with the high fertility rate.

8220;Many couples have at least three children and it8217;s not unusual for the number to go up to six or seven. This trend is not so common in other states now,8221; added an official.

In 2007, over 500 children died from an unknown strain of the encephalitis virus; 305 children were afflicted with polio; and 2,556 with tuberculosis 8212; the maximum in any state.

The situation has not shown much improvement this year. At least 50 people have already died due to an unknown strain of the encephalitis virus.

And even as health authorities were congratulating themselves over the falling incidence of polio a few months ago, the virulent poliovirus has again taken UP in its grip. Other than its spread in western UP districts like Moradabad and Badaun, this time the virus has spread in 8216;low-risk8217; districts too, such as Hardoi, which last saw a polio case in 2006. And Mirzapur, which had also been free of the disease for a while, reported cases with poliovirus P3 as opposed to the more common P1. And while the fear of polio grips western UP, the eastern part of the state is reeling under water-borne diseases, with several deaths reported as well.

Uttar Pradesh also saw a spurt of measles this year and as many as 36 people, most of them children, ended up succumbing to the usually non-fatal disease.

But it is Kanpur where the urgency of addressing the health crisis is most evident due to the spread of a 8216;mysterious fever8217; that has spread across as many as 150 villages, specifically in four blocks 8212; Amraudha, Malasa, Dherapur and Sarvankheda 8212; that are home to three lakh people. Seruva ka Purva village under the Sarvankheda Block has already witnessed over 100 cases and the deaths of two children over the past few days.

While investigations revealed that some died due to hepatitis E, health authorities are still concerned, since the latest report by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases NICD has confirmed that the deaths could be due to malaria. Authorities are now concerned that a mutant strain of p.vivax malaria 8212; which was prevalent in Kanpur but not fatal 8212; could be causing the deaths.

The experts suspect that this new strain could lead to larger problems. 8220;The p.vivax strain of malaria usually does not cause mortality. But if it8217;s doing so like it did in Venezuela, it is a cause of concern. We are also investigating whether some other new strain has been circulating in the area,8221; said Dr Shiv Lal, director, NICD.

In the meantime, a new case 8212; West Nile virus 8212; has been diagnosed for the first time in the state.

However, even as the health situation in Uttar Pradesh has reached crisis proportions, authorities appear to be more concerned with making excuses and claiming ignorance than tackling the problem. For polio, they blame victims8217; resistance to polio drops; they throw their hands up in the air for encephalitis, saying it is an unknown strain; while faulty water pipelines are the prime accused for diarrhoea deaths.

But despite evidence to the contrary, health authorities believe that the situation is under control. 8220;There has been improvement as far as the spread of diseases in the state are concerned,8221; said Dr I S Srivastava, DG, Health Services, UP. 8220;We are vigilant about health conditions and whenever needed, teams are being sent for investigations,8221; added Dr Srivastava.

Water and Vector borne diseases:

Malaria 23278 cases.

Filaria 3440 cases.

Kala Azar 33 cases.

Dengue 1 case one death.

JE 894 cases 163 deaths.

Diarrhea 7828 cases 94 deaths.

Gastroenteritis 543 cases 15 deaths.

Hepatitis 51 cases 3 deaths.

Cholera No case so far.

Measels 1825 cases 45 deaths.