Fluorosis management in India

Fluorosis management in India: the impact due to networking between health and rural drinking water supply agencies

ndia is one of 21 nations with serious health problems due to consumption of fluoride-contaminated drinking water. An estimated 62 million people in India (in 16 of the 32 states) are affected with dental, skeletal, and non-skeletal forms of fluorosis and associated health complaints. Even children of the age of 8 to 10 years have been crippled due to consumption of fluoride-contaminated water. Fluoride concentrations in drinking water vary from 1.5 to 39 ppm. To tackle the problem effectively, an innovative approach has been adopted. Networking between Public Health Engineering, health sector personnel, and nutrition experts of the individual states, and phasing in the activities with well-defined objectives for implementation, resulted in a multidisciplinary approach, with the main goal of providing safe/defluoridated water, preventing fluorosis, and improving the health status of the community through interventions. The information arising from research and development activities on fluorosis patients is translated into well-defined modules for clinicians to use in their outpatient departments while screening the patients. This is very important as the health complaints due to fluoride often overlap with manifestations of other diseases and can lead to incorrect treatment of patients. In the Fluorosis Management Programme, the emphasis is on generating awareness among professionals, developing information, education, and communication packages, involving the community, and devising specific strategies for using the technology for fluoride removal and other approaches for providing safe water and consuming calcium, vitamin C, and an antioxidant-rich diet on a sustainable basis.
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