Unhealthy Indians will cause $237 bn-loss to country

Indian professionals are unhealthy and how! A study by World Health Organisation (WHO) says almost 47 per cent of the workforce in Indian industries, especially in urban areas, were found to be overweight while around 27 per cent were suffering from hypertension. Around 10 per cent of those surveyed were also found to be diabetic.

The survey, which looked at the health of 35,000 employees and their family members, aged 10-69 years in 10 different industries, and 20,000 randomly selected individuals, found workers at greater risk of developing chronic diseases like heart attack, stroke and cancer .

Due to this rise in lifestyle diseases — like diabetes, stroke and cancer caused because of unhealthy workplaces — India could incur losses to the tune of $237 billion by 2015, the new WHO report has said.

The economic loss in India, which was $8.7 billion in 2005, is projected to rise to $ 54 billion in 2015, according to the report, Preventing Communicable Diseases in the Workplace through Diet and Physical Activity.

The projected loss for China — the other fast developing country — is a massive $ 558 billion, while the estimated figure for Russia and the UK is $ 33 billion.

The estimated income loss in Brazil in 2015 would be $9.3 billion, while in Pakistan $ 6.7 billion, Nigeria $ 1.5 billion and Canada $ 1.5 billion.

Promoting the concept of a healthy workplace, the report has said targeting physical inactivity and unhealthy dietary habits are effective in improving health-related outcomes such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk factors.

The report was presented to the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Wednesday.

This report — the outcome of an event jointly organised by WHO and the World Economic Forum — summarises the current evidence available in addressing

the different dimensions of the workplace as a key setting for interventions designed to prevent Non-Communicable Diseases through diet and physical activity.