A systematic study on the recent crisis in public health in Kerala

Abstract

Introduction: The state of Kerala in the country of India has been getting on the wrong side of nature over the past few years. From raging floods to massive outbreaks of viral diseases, the state of Kerala has been in turmoil over the past few years. The rains and floods have ceased leaving behind a catastrophic world of copious vector-borne infectious diseases. Moreover, a migrant crisis has been looming over the state for the past few decades resulting in an accumulation of various other dangerous diseases from multiple different parts of the country. Even after taking into consideration the great health care facilities in Kerala there have been multiple reports of infectious disease outbreaks, especially in rural districts. This short review is written with the purpose to review the facts into a single entity that can provide solid proof and hence evoke a stricter sense of awareness among communities to minimize the losses and prevent the exigency of public health that can occur not too far away in the foreseeable future. Methods: Various databases were searched like Scopus and Google scholar and all articles related to reported infections in the state of Kerala and the factors which can lead to the public health crisis were selected and included in the review. Results: A multiple numbers of articles on viral infections were obtained in the various databases. Most of the bacterial infections were reported as urinary and respiratory tract infections. Migrant crisis and 2018 floods were two of the most recent contributing factors that can lead to an emergency in public health in the state. Conclusion: There can be a sudden unexpected outbreak of infectious diseases if the government does not carefully monitor the rural districts like Alappuzha.