New Delhi: National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) Vice Chairman Arun Halder on Thursday (February 2) welcomed the announcement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget on the plan to launch a mission to eliminate sickle cell anaemia by 2047. Addressing a press conference here, Mr Halder said sickle cell disease is more prevalent in Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes communities. He said,
Whereas SCD is a universal disease and affects over 20 million people across India it is observed to be proportionately more prevalent in the tribal belts of India. India is estimated to be home to over 50 per cent of the world’s patients with sickle cell disease.
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“SCD has the highest prevalence in three socio-economically disadvantaged ethnic categories in India: the Scheduled Castes (SC), the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC),” he said.
Mr Halder said community screening revealed the prevalence of sickle cell trait in 13 per cent of the SC population, 12 per cent of ST and 3.4 per cent of the OBC population. He said,
The tradition of endogamy practised by the ethnic groups in India provides the rationale for the screening of individual populations to better understand the distribution of SCD gene, guide counselling and awareness programmes and aid development of public policy.
Mr Halder said the Union Budget for 2023-24 was comprehensive and addresses every section of society, including SC, ST and OBC.
In her Budget speech on Wednesday (February 1), Ms Sitharaman announced her government’s plan to launch a mission to eliminate sickle cell anaemia by 2047.
Also Read: Union Budget 2023 Highlights: Key Announcements Made By FM Nirmala Sitharaman
The minister said it will entail awareness creation, universal screening of seven crore people in the age group of 0-40 years in affected tribal areas and counselling through collaborative efforts of central ministries and state governments.
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders in which the size of red blood cells starts changing. Abnormality in hemoglobin causes the red blood cells to become hard and sticky and look like a sickle. The sickle cells die early causing a constant shortage of red blood cells.
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NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
