SICKLE
CELL ANEMIA - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
News:
Sickle cell screening
meets only 1% of target, hurting ambitious elimination goal
What's
in the news?
●
With barely two weeks left in the fiscal
year, the Health Ministry has completed a minuscule 1% of its ambitious target to scan one crore people for sickle
cell disease in 2022-23.
National Sickle Cell Elimination
Mission:
Aim:
●
It aims to eliminate sickle cell anaemia by 2047.
Administrative
Control:
●
The Ministry
of Health Affairs is the nodal ministry to undertake the National Sickle
Cell Anaemia Mission.
●
The programme will be anchored and
coordinated by the Ministry of Tribal
Affairs.
Features:
●
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.
●
The screening exercise kicked off last
year (2022-23) and aimed to cover one crore people for the year 2023.
●
Beginning 2024, the mission aims to cover
two crore people each year till 2025-26.
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It aims to set up prenatal diagnosis facilities in over 18 States wherever
gaps were being identified, in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical
Research laboratories.
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It also plans to set up two Centres for Excellence (advanced)
in each of these States to set up diagnosis and treatment facilities.
●
The NHM has estimated a cost of ₹542.5
crore for the entire screening exercise.
Go
back to basics:
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Sickle cell anaemia is an inherited disease, meaning it runs from
generation to generation.
●
People who have the disease inherit two faulty genes - haemoglobin S, one
from each parent.
●
A person who has sickle cell trait
inherits only one faulty gene. People with traits are generally healthy.
○
Haemoglobin S changes flexible red blood
cells into rigid sickle shaped cells, which can block blood flow and lead to
pain and organ damage.
●
There are approximately 15 lakh sickle
cell-affected patients in the country, according to NHM estimates.