Arjun Munda launches ‘Awareness Campaign and Training of Trainers for the Elimination of Sickle Cell Anaemia’

Awareness Campaign and Training of Trainers: In a recent announcement, the government declared a mission to eradicate sickle cell anaemia by 2047 within the 2023-24 budget. This Mission will involve the creation of awareness, the universal screening of 7 crore people between the ages of 0 and 40 in affected tribal areas, and the provision of counselling through the collaboration of central ministries and state administrations. On July 1, 2023, in the Shahdol District of Madhya Pradesh, the Mission was officially launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

After the launch, the Minister told the media that the initiative would advance Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of an India free of sickle cell disease by assuring community participation. Shri Munda added that the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare and Tribal Affairs are collaborating to initiate awareness generation initiatives for the Mission for the Elimination of SCD under his inspirational leadership.

The Minister elaborated on the obstacles and opportunities involved in making this initiative a success. The fundamental challenge, he stated, would be to ensure Jan Bhagidari in order to make the mission a grassroots movement. To develop a genuinely participatory ecosystem for eradicating the disease, it would be necessary to dispel widespread misconceptions and engage the public. The Minister emphasised the significance of establishing a healthcare database for the afflicted population, which would aid in research and the development of a permanent solution. He added that only then would it be feasible to stop the spread of this disease and save future generations.

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Arjun Munda launches ‘Awareness Campaign and Training of Trainers for the Elimination of Sickle Cell Anaemia’

Shri Munda was pleased to observe that the State Governments had nominated a significant number of tertiary care medical practitioners as state-level master trainers. Medical professionals are collaborating with tribal communities to increase awareness of the disease, its symptoms, and its anguish, as well as to eliminate misinformation and stigma associated with the illness. In order to ensure that the correct information is communicated to the public, he explained, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has established a Committee of experts, comprised of medical professionals, patient support organisations, and other stakeholders, to publish a module on awareness generation and on counselling of the stakeholders. He added that these modules were distributed during the Mission’s launch event.

The Minister explained that a massive awareness-raising campaign is currently underway, and training modules at multiple levels are being designed to reach the last mile. The Minister disclosed that it is intended to involve community-level leaders, who will facilitate the participation of the populace in the mission. He added that, in a first-of-its-kind move, awareness campaigns are being translated into tribal languages to ensure that the message reaches the grassroots level.

Secretary (Tribal Affairs), Shri Anil Kumar Jha, stated on this occasion that we are implementing a three-tiered training programme at the state, district, and village levels to ensure that the population is sufficiently motivated to seek us out for diagnostic testing.In addition, state administrations have designated tertiary care physicians as state-level master trainers, while district-level trainers train local opinion leaders and influencers.

The Project

Ms. R Jaya, Additional Secretary, stated that the occasion signified the launch of the awareness campaign. She added that the Ministry was collaborating with all sector stakeholders to ensure that the Mission becomes a movement of the people. She asked the master trainers to ensure that they continue the training and train master trainers at the district level, who would then convey the message to the local-village level. To reach the finish line, it is necessary to involve all stakeholders at all levels. In addition, the Ministry plans to conduct regional seminars and awareness-raising campaigns, as well as utilise online resources such as Swasthya and Sickle Cell Corner.

Three technical sessions were held on (i) ‘Awareness modules and its importance as a preventive measure’ by Dr Deepti Jain, Rtd. Professor, Nagpur Medical College, Maharashtra, and Chairperson of the Committee; (ii) ‘Diagnosis in Sickle Cell is critical’ by Dr Anupam Sachdeva, Head of Department of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi; and (iii) ‘Role

On this occasion, Dr. Naveen Thacker, President of The International Paediatric Association (IPA), Dr. Saurabh Varshney, Director of AIIMS Deoghar, as well as other medical experts, various other stakeholders, and all Committee Members, expressed their opinions.