Preventable Disabilities & Abnormalities

More than 100 million human beings suffer from physical and mental disabilities globally. These are generally caused by malnutrition and also known as nutritional disabilities. If we take the matter seriously; these are preventable disabilities. Malnutrition is a major cause of growth retardation, blindness due to vitamin-A deficiency and rickets due to vitamin-D deficiency. High fluorine content in drinking water may lead to fluorosis.

Over exposure to fluoride in drinking water or otherwise would erode the enamel of teeth; a condition called dental fluorosis. Children below the age of 10 years should not be allowed to use fluoride containing tooth pastes. Dental fluorosis is characterized by coloring and pitting of teeth. Over ingestion of fluoride in drinking water may lead to severe skeletal abnormalities also. Quality of drinking water should be assured by Public Health & Sanitation Departments of the area worldwide.

Deficiency of iodine in drinking water or food would lead to metabolic disorders and mental retardation in children as well as adults. In our body, iodine is processed by thyroid gland (an endocrine gland) present in the front of our neck. The colloidal substance present in the thyroid gland is a store house of iodine. The cells of the thyroid gland secrete an internal secretion called thyroglobulin; that breaks down to thyroxine hormone before being released into blood stream. Thyroxine is a tetra-iodo-compound (also called T4 hormone) that controls general metabolism of our body. Another thyroid hormone isolated from thyroid gland as well as present in blood/plasma is triiodothyroxine (also called T3 hormone). Under secretion of thyroid hormones in children produces cretinism. A cretin child grows up mentally retarded dwarf unless treated by thyroid extract. Goitre (enlargement of thyroid) and cretinism can be prevented with iodized salt or water.

Contamination of orange-red pulses (certain legumes of genus Lathyrus or kesari dal) may cause lathyrism (neuromuscular weakness). Seeds of Lathyrus cicera and Lathyrus clymentum are known to contain a toxin, causing neurolathyrism. Osteolathyrism is caused by a different toxin called beta-aminopropionitrile (present in sweet peas); that affects linking of collagen fibrils with bones and muscles. By careful sorting of legume seeds used as pulses Lathyrism can be prevented.


Protein calorie malnutrition (PCM) is another preventable abnormality/disability. Protein calorie malnutrition (PCM) leads to poor physical and mental endowment. Long term feature of PCM is mental retardation. Through the community education and awareness about nutritional value of food stuffs these nutritional disabilities can be prevented. Rickets is most common amongst malnourished children. Rickets is caused by deficiency of vitamin-D. Deficiency of vitamin-D leads to softening of bones and skeletal abnormalities in children. Children should be exposed to the sunlight as it leads to formation of vitamin-D from the pro-vitamin-D in our body. Butter, egg yoke and some species of fish are rich source of vitamin-D. So, intake of these and exposure to sunlight would be helpful for preventing rickets in our children.

Effect of Alcohol on Fetus

Thousands of research papers have been published to highlight the hazardous effects of alcohol on the fetus in the womb of drinking mothers. It has been estimated that 60-70% of pregnancies of mothers having 5 to 6 drinks a day may have an abnormal outcome. Even moderate levels of drinking during pregnancy would be detrimental to the fetus. Excessive drinking during pregnancy may lead to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) includes failure of growth before and after birth, various physical defects and neuro-developmental disorders. The FAS has an incidence of around one percent in live births from such women. The healthcare of alcohol damaged children (ADC) would need extra spending by individuals as well as by governments. Psychiatrists recommend total abstinence from alcohol during pregnancy.

The alcohol abuse and drink trade are subjects of the interest of governments worldwide. Majority of the governments are interested in the wealth than health. The average consumption of alcohol has doubled during the last decade in many developing countries. You would find increased number of outlets of liquor in your area. The alcohol seems to be an ever-expanding scourge, taking a heavy toll of health and wealth due to lack of social alcohol discipline. The drinking habits of female population need to be reliably surveyed to ascertain the damage caused to their infants.

Children’s health, growth and immunization: Our role in preventing preventable diseases

Unless we look after our women and children in a programmed manner in the field of health, we cannot have a happy world around us. Children are still killed or disabled each year by diseases that could have been prevented by immunization. The World Health Organization (WHO) is doing its best to eradicate/eliminate a variety of infectious diseases, but involvement of every citizen of the world is must for compliance of various programs of the WHO. The measles, mumps and rubella triple vaccine (MMR) should be included in the EPI (Expanded Preventable Immunization) program of every country. We should not ignore the facts that measles and mumps can cause considerable morbidity and mortality which could be prevented with optimum immunization. Optimum immunization means full course of vaccination schedule without missing any booster dose.

Apart from vaccination child nutrition and general health must be taken care of. The child health reminds me the efforts of Mr. James P Grant, the Director of United Nations' Children's Fund (UNICEF, 1984), who in 1984 brought out a Report on the State of World's Children, and forwarded a mnemonic GOBI-FFF to remember the techniques which could reduce sadness of the world. In GOBI-FFF, "G" stands for growth monitoring, "O" stands for oral rehydration therapy, "B" stands for breastfeeding, and "I" stands for immunization. The three Fs (FFF) stand for 'family spacing', food supplements and female education. The methods represented by GOBI-FFF are the simplest methods which could help us in tiding over the state of health of children and preventing diseases and saving lives. Consequent upon the compliance of GOBI-FFF, lives of millions of children are saved every year and the health and growth of millions more is protected. Still there is need to protect the children from episodes of common childhood diseases like measles, respiratory infections and diarrhoeal infections.

Various infections also interfere with physiological and psychological development of children. The malnutrition and infections perpetuate each other and may lead to suboptimum brain development. The GOBI methods are not so expensive. Community health workers can be assigned the responsibility of growth monitoring through periodic recording of weight and height of a child. The oral rehydration salts (ORS) should be supplied at cost price to prevent the dehydration caused by diarrhoea. The breastfeeding should be encouraged since it provides ideal nourishment to the child and saves from the infectious hazards of bottle feeding. Immunization against tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertusis (whooping cough) tetanus, polio, measles, mums and rubella protects the child against these serious as well as disabling diseases. Attention should also be given to the health education of mothers. Awareness about the child's health in mothers would definitely make all the healthcare and immunization programs successful. It is well established fact that proper spacing between child births decreases the risks to the heath of the mother and the infant. Food supplements should regularly be supplied to the mothers during pregnancy and vaccination against tetanus should be done. We must put in our best efforts to prevent the preventable diseases since prevention is better than cure.