SICKLE CELL ANAEMIA - SCI & TECH
News: 1,000
letters, 20 yrs: The struggle to find a place for sickle cell anaemia in
textbooks
What's in the news?
● For
over two decades, a bespectacled doctor working in Maharashtra’s
tribal-dominated Gadchiroli district wrote more than 1,000 letters and emails
to officers across 15 states, urging them to include information on sickle cell
anaemia in school and college curriculum to raise awareness on this hereditary
disorder.
Key takeaways:
● Dr
Ramesh Katre’s efforts bore fruits when Union Minister Nitin Gadkari asked the
University Grants Commission (UGC) to request all higher educational
institutions across India to consider adding a chapter on this debilitating
condition.
Sickle Cell Anaemia:
● Sickle
cell anaemia is a genetic disorder
in which red blood cells become oval
shaped due to oxygen deficiency.
● People
who have the disease inherit two faulty genes - haemoglobin S, one from each parent.
Stats on Sickle Cell Anaemia:
● The
World Health Organization (WHO) states that Africa has the highest burden of sickle cell anaemia.
● According
to the Centre, India has the
second-highest burden of this condition in the world.
● An
estimated 30,000-40,000 children born every year suffer from this disorder.
● The
condition is especially widespread among India’s tribal population, where one
in 86 infants suffers from this condition.
● Of
the 15 states that share the highest incidence of this disease, Maharashtra
tops the chart.
Budget announcement:
● The
Finance Minister also announced a mission to eliminate sickle cell anaemia by 2047.
● The
programme will include awareness, counselling and universal screening of seven
crore people aged up to 40 years in affected tribal areas.
Further Reference - National Sickle Cell Elimination Mission