Srinagar, Apr 6: As the world observes World Health Day on Tuesday, Jammu and Kashmir faces a mounting public health emergency not primarily from a lack of access to healthcare but from an epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
The ballooning rates of diabetes, cancers, and cardiovascular diseases in J&K are fueled by widespread tobacco use, sedentary habits, poor dietary patterns, unscientific pesticide application, and negligible screening.
Experts believe the overburdened healthcare facilities strain under the weight of rising cases of life-threatening, nearly incurable diseases.
The stretched facilities worsen the outcomes of treatments for the disease profile that J&K is facing.
However, doctors and recent studies describe the disease booklist here as a “silent epidemic”.
Dr Irfan Bhat, noted cardiologist at Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar emphasised the scenario in J&K as: “Genetics load the gun, but lifestyle pulls the trigger.”
He said awareness lags the threat, and prevention of diseases is still an alien concept in the present settings here.
Last week, a long-term study published in Journal of American Heart Association revealed that men’s risk of heart diseases starts rising faster than that of women in their 30s.
This, according to experts in India, called for earlier screening of hypertension, lipids and diabetes.
Women’s risk rises sharply after menopause.
The missed prevention is the takeaway from these statements and brings home the point regarding prevention of heart diseases in population in J&K.
Earlier population-based studies in Kashmir have reported coronary heart disease (CHD) prevalence at 7.54 percent.
Heart ailments account for a disproportionate share of deaths here, nearly one out of every three deaths attributed to a heart disease.
Ischemic heart disease is fast becoming the top killer in J&K.
Smoking and stress rank are the top drivers of this disease: sudden cardiac events increasingly reported even among younger population.
In 2024, an ICMR study showed that in Jammu division, diabetes prevalence stands at 18.9 percent overall, with urban stats as high as 26.5 percent.
Another 10.8 percent have pre-diabetes. In Kashmir, rates hover around 10 to 12 percent among adults.
Over the past three financial years, J&K added more than 2,18,000 new diabetes patients through screenings alone.
Alarmingly, nearly 10 percent of adolescents (10-19 years) are pre-diabetic.
The risk is linked to bad dietary habits, low physical activity, and excessive screen time.
From 12,726 cases of cancer in 2020 to 14,112 in 2024, cancer incidence have climbed steadily here. Kashmir division reports the bulk of cases, or the figures point to a major flaw in data collection. Stomach and colorectal cancers have historically predominated in Kashmir.
Aggressive brain tumors from the apple-growing belts of Baramulla, Anantnag, Budgam, Shopian, and Kupwara have doctors worried.
A landmark 2010 study from Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) found that 90 percent of primary brain cancer patients in these orchard areas had chronic exposure to neurotoxin and carcinogenic pesticides.
These pesticides included Chlorpyrifos, Dimethoate, Mancozeb, and Captan.
The study showed that all pesticide-linked tumors were high-grade.
Individuals and families engaged in horticulture often lack protective gear, and deal with unscientific and excessive spraying. The Global Adult Tobacco Survey data has shown 23.7 percent of J&K adults aged over 15 consume tobacco. J&K is among India’s higher-prevalence regions for smoking.
This directly has links to higher lung cancer and CVD rates.
The cessation efforts remain limited to increased taxation on tobacco products.
Diets in J&K have remained carbohydrate-heavy and protein-poor. Dominated by rice, refined grains, the high-glycemic staples, puts people on a calorie intake-expenditure imbalance.
Junk food consumption among children and adolescents is rising, and is linked to obesity and early metabolic issues.
Physical inactivity is pervasive.
An ICMR study showed physical activity patterns showed J&K failing to move from start point.
The sedentary rates are worsened by long winters, urbanisation, and screen time now
Cancer screening has remained critically low. Population-level programmes for breast, cervical, or oral cancers reach only a fraction of at-risk adults.
This leads to late-stage diagnoses and greater disease burden.
