{"id":29398,"date":"2024-09-13T18:42:17","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T13:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=29398"},"modified":"2024-09-13T18:42:19","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T13:12:19","slug":"indias-sickle-cell-anaemia-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/13-09-2024\/indias-sickle-cell-anaemia-challenge","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s Sickle Cell Anaemia Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Health<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India bears the world\u2019s second largest burden of Sickle Cell Anaemia, with over a million people affected by the disease.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Sickle Cell Anaemia?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Sickle cell disease<\/strong> is a hereditary disease caused by mutations in one of the genes that encode the hemoglobin protein.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If both parents carry the sickle cell trait, the child has significant chances of being born with the disease.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sickle shape of cells: <\/strong>While healthy individuals have disc-shaped red blood cells, those with sickle cell disease have red blood cells that take on a crescent or sickle-like shape.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Impact:<\/strong> This condition leads to shortened red blood cell survival, and subsequent anemia.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Poor blood oxygen levels and <strong>blood vessel blockages<\/strong> in people with sickle-cell disease can lead to chronic acute pain syndromes, severe bacterial infections, and necrosis (tissue death).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Individuals affected by sickle cell disease are chronically anemic and experience significant <strong>damage to their heart, lungs, and kidneys<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Prevalence: <\/strong>A majority of the patients are concentrated in the tribal belt running across Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cure: <\/strong>The only cure comes in the form of gene therapy and stem cell transplants. Both are expensive and still in developmental stages.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"d7b7b8\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"322\" height=\"208\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2024\/09\/cure-jpg.webp\" alt=\"cure\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-29399\" style=\"--dominant-color: #d7b7b8; width:292px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2024\/09\/cure-jpg.webp 322w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2024\/09\/cure-300x194.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 322px) 100vw, 322px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Measures taken by government<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In 2023, India launched the <strong>National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission to eliminate sickle cell disease<\/strong> as a public health problem by 2047.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hydroxyurea,<\/strong> a vital medicine for treating sickle cell disease, has been included in the essential medicines list to increase access to it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>The\u00a0 program aims<\/strong> to improve the care and prospects of all sickle cell disease patients while reducing the prevalence of the disease, particularly among tribal populations of the country.<br>1. It is executed in a mission mode as part of the <strong>National Health Mission (NHM).<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>It will be implemented in 17 high-focus states <\/strong>across namely Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, and Uttarakhand.\u00a0<br>&#8211; Over a period of three years, spanning from the fiscal year <strong>2023-24 to 2025-26, <\/strong>the <strong>program targets screening<\/strong> approximately <strong>7.0 crore people.<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Only<strong> 18% of the people <\/strong>affected by sickle cell disease in India are <strong>receiving consistent treatment<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This is because <strong>patients drop out at all stages of treatment:<\/strong> while getting screened for the disease, while getting diagnosed, while starting treatment, and while trying to adhere to treatment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>At present, relatively inexpensive drugs such as hydroxyurea are effective for most patients if administered with the right dosage and frequency.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>However, there are <strong>challenges in regular supply <\/strong>of medicines.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In addition to health issues, patients also suffer from the <strong>social stigma<\/strong> that is attached to this disease.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Reduce Stigma:<\/strong> Raise awareness through targeted media campaigns, drawing from India\u2019s experiences with polio and HIV.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Expand Screening:<\/strong> Focus on newborn screening, especially in endemic areas, for early detection.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Improve Accessibility: <\/strong>Ensure medicines and adherence support are available locally, and establish interdisciplinary centers of excellence for complications.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Increase Vaccination:<\/strong> Implement catch-up vaccination programs for patients to reduce infections.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Strengthen Tribal Healthcare: <\/strong>Tailor healthcare delivery to tribal areas and ensure sufficient funding for these regions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/lead\/indias-sickle-cell-challenge\/article68630935.ece#:~:text=Last%20year%2C%20Prime%20Minister,%2C%20from%20Shahdol%2C%20Madhya%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India bears the world\u2019s second largest burden of Sickle Cell Anaemia, with over a million people affected by the disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29400,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29398\/revisions\/29400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}