A Perilous Pilgrimage: The Case of Sabarimala

Mass gathering poses considerable challenges in terms of communicable and non-communicable disease surveillance, emergency preparedness, environmental health, vaccination, crowd management, etc ( Lancet Infectious Diseases 2010). Given the complexity of the situation and high mobility of the population which makes high level of evidence generation like controlled trials difficult, it is suggested that middle-level observational and analytical studies should be encouraged to enable informed decisions on public health strategies. Health Issues Faced by Sabarimala Pilgrims In the Indian context, and especially in the context of Sabarimala, some of the issues that need to be taken up are-gastrointestinal diseases due to high coliform loads, poor sanitation, concentrated bathing in streams, poor drinking water quality and food hygiene; respiratory diseases due to overcrowding and climatic conditions, vector-borne diseases, and zoonotic infections (Abubakar et al 2012). The areas suggested for research in mass gathering are-reducing risks, including public health emergencies during events; restricting the occurrence of communicable and non-communicable diseases; fine-tuning and scaling up health services in order to address the problems, etc.