National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission

National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission

News: Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched a national sickle cell anaemia elimination mission aiming to screen more than seven crore young tribals so that the debilitating disease can be detected early and managed with therapies.

What is Sickle Cell Disease (SCD)?
• Sickle cell disease is a genetic blood disorder that affects the shape and function of red blood cells. It causes them to become sickle-shaped and sticky, leading to blockage of blood vessels and reduced oxygen supply to various organs.
• SCD can cause severe pain, anemia, infections, organ damage and premature death. SCD is more common in the tribal population of India, but also occurs in non-tribals.
• SCD is inherited from both parents.
• It is estimated that about 1.5 crore people in India have SCD or carry the sickle cell gene.

Is there any cure for SCD?
• There is no single cure for sickle cell disease, but treatments are available to help manage the symptoms and complications.

Medicines: There are different types of medicines that can help prevent or reduce the sickling of red blood cells, the frequency of pain crises, the risk of infections and the inflammation of blood vessels.

Transfusions - Blood transfusions can help increase the number of normal red blood cells in the body and improve the oxygen delivery to organs. Transfusions can also lower the risk of stroke, acute chest syndrome and other complications.

Bone marrow transplant - Bone marrow transplant is a procedure that replaces the faulty bone marrow (the soft tissue inside the bones that produces blood cells) with healthy bone marrow from a donor. This can cure sickle cell disease in some cases, but it is not widely available and has many challenges such as finding a suitable donor, undergoing chemotherapy or radiation to prepare for the transplant, and dealing with possible rejection or complications after the transplant.

What is National Sickle cell Anaemia elimination mission?
• The mission aims to eliminate SCD as a public health problem by 2047, the 100th year of India’s independence.
• The mission has strategies – Health promotion (creating awareness about SCD), Prevention (conduct universal screening), Management (strengthening primary, secondary, tertiary healthcare facilities) and Convergence (co-ordinating with different ministeries).
• The mission is implemented by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare under the National Health Mission (NHM), in collaboration with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), National Health Authority (NHA) and other partners.
Source – National Health Mission