New Delhi: More than one crore people have been screened for sickle cell disease under the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission since its launch by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July last year, an official said on Tuesday (January 2). The programme aims to eliminate sickle cell disease in India, particularly among the country’s tribal population in 17 high-prevalence states, by 2047.
▶️ Significant milestone crossed – more than 1 crore screened for Sickle Cell Disease under the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Missionhttps://t.co/tHavfbcSjj pic.twitter.com/0ltFcJjnOV
— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) January 2, 2024
The focus is on 278 districts of 17 states with higher prevalence of the disease — Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar and Uttarakhand.
The mission entails screening of seven crore population for sickle cell disease in the age group of zero to 40 years, pre-marital and pre-conceptional genetic counselling for its prevention and holistic care for those with the disease across both primary and secondary public health facilities in three years.
Sickle cell disease is a genetic blood disease which affects the whole life of the affected patient. It is more common in the tribal population of India but occurs in non-tribal communities too.
Watch: Sickle Cell Must Be Declared As A Notified Disease: Dr Dhananjay Sagdeo
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. 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 a world post 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 well-being, 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.
