Unique collaborative PPP for ‘Malaria free India’

The Dollar Business Bureau

In a unique effort to eradicate malaria, the Ministry of Health and Family welfare, the MP government, Indian Council of Medical Research and Sun Pharma have joined hands for a ‘Malaria free India.’

Under this Public Private Partnership, which is in line with Sun Pharma’s CSR objective of development in sustainable manner, the efforts will be made to support national program to eliminate malaria.

The initiatives taken to eradicate malaria through collaboration was announced by the Government of Madhya Pradesh, Dr Soumya Swaminathan (Director General- ICMR), Gauri Singh (Principal Secretary- Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) and Dilip Shanghvi (MD-Sun Pharma).

The stakeholders in this collaboration will have technical and managing committees to keep a vigil on the spread of the infectious disease and its elimination.

Under the first phase of the project, the stakeholders aim to keep 1,200 villages of Madhya Pradesh ‘malaria free.’ The span of the project, which will begin from Mandla district, will vary between three to five years.

There are six- point-goals governing the program.

1. Reduce deaths in infants, children and pregnant women due to malaria.
2. The first phase to be released from Mandla, MP

3. To aim for a malaria free Mandla.
4. Introduce an app-based surveillance system and treatment of malaria cases in accordance with the guidelines mentioned in the National Vector Borne Disease Control Program.
5. Brace up the existing healthcare systems.
6. Create awareness among the communities.

Quick diagnosis, immediate treatment of anti-malaria drugs, indoor residual control through spray, insecticide tested bed net will be used to achieve these goals.

The move is expected to create sustainable environment by improving the health of people and even tackling poverty via cost effective initiatives.

Besides Madhya Pradesh, few more Indian states, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, witness high number of cases of Malaria. There are also districts of the latter mentioned states and northeastern states, totaling 91, holding 5% of Indian population of which 31% belonged to tribes, that witnessed almost half of the cases of malaria leading to mortalities.