E-Paper
Residents of two MP districts to get cards on extent of sickle cell anaemia
The model adopted in Madhya Pradesh’s tribal dominated Alirajpur and Jabhua districts will be replicated across the country as part of a national project to eradicate the disease by 2047
Residents of Madhya Pradesh (MP)’s tribal-dominated Alirajpur and Jabhua districts will get colour-coded cards showing the extent of sickle cell anaemia, officials said on Friday and added the model will be replicated across the country as part of a national project to eradicate the disease by 2047.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the project in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol on June 27 when he would also launch development works in the poll-bound state. Madhya Pradesh is due to go to polls this year.
State health commissioner Sudam Khade said 1.3 million tribals in Alirajpur and Jabhua were tested for sickle cell anaemia as part of a pilot. “We found about 3% of them were carriers of sickle cell and 0.3% suffered from the disease.”
He said the state government has printed 200000 cards covering all families. Khade said the cards will provide information on sickle cell anaemia and can be used for match-making to prevent the inherited blood disorder from passing on to the next generation.
According to a 2021 Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine study, sickle cell anaemia is the most common blood-related disorder in India with a high prevalence among disadvantaged groups such as tribals. It said approximately 5,00,000 children are born annually with the disorder worldwide with India accounting for nearly 50% of the cases. “Their lifespan is usually reduced to 42-48 years with 50% of children with SCA dying before the age of 5,” the study said.
Sickle cell anaemia is higher among tribals because of the gene build-up to fight the high incidence of malaria in the tribal areas. The study said the chronic single-gene disorder causes a debilitating systemic syndrome characterised by chronic anaemia, acute painful episodes, organ infarction, and chronic organ damage.
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech in February announced the elimination of sickle cell anaemia by 2047.
Khade said community-level screening for sickle cell anaemia, thalassemia, and other haemoglobinopathy ailments would be done to ensure necessary management as part of the national campaign to end the disorder.
Each card has four boxes. If two of the boxes are coloured yellow, it means the person is a carrier. A person is suffering from the disorder if all four are coloured yellow. “The card has been designed in a way that match-making could be done easily accordingly even by an illiterate person,” said a second official.
The official said panchayats in the tribal areas have been asked to monitor whether the match-making was being done as per the cards.
