10-Apr-2018: Satyagraha se Swachhagraha campaign
Mahatma Gandhi launched the Champaran Satyagraha over a century ago, on 10th April, 1917, to give the country freedom from foreign rule. April 10th, 2018 marks the end of the centenary year celebrations of the Champaran Satyagraha, and is going to be celebrated through the “Satyagraha se Swachhagraha” campaign, which is aimed at achieving freedom from filth.
To commemorate this landmark, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, in coordination with the Government of Bihar, is working to spread the message of Swachhata across the country by initiating the “Satyagraha se Swachhagraha” campaign, from 3rd to 10th April. More than 10,000 Swachhagrahis from different parts of the country have been invited to Bihar, where they have been working with 10,000 Swachhagrahis from Bihar to “trigger” behaviour change throughout the 38 districts of the State and build momentum of the Jan Andolan further.
Background: Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Gramin, launched on October 2, 2014, is the largest behaviour change campaign ever attempted in the field of sanitation in the world. It aims to build an ODF (Open Defecation Free) and Swachh Bharat by October 2, 2019 as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary.
India is witnessing a sanitation revolution with the number of people in rural India, practicing open defecation having fallen from 55 crores in October 2014 to 20 crores by April 2018. Sanitation has been proven, by various independent studies, to have a positive economic as well as health impact on families in rural India.
Under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), 6.7 crore toilets have been built, 3.5 lakhs villages and over 360 districts, and 14 States and UTs have already been declared ODF. A recent survey conducted by an Independent Verification Agency across 90,000 households in over 6000 villages has found the rural toilet coverage to be 77% and the usage of these toilets to be 93.4%. The progress is accelerating every day and the Mission is on track to achieve an ODF India before October 2nd, 2019.
13-Mar-2018: End TB Summit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 'Delhi End TB Summit'. He also launched the TB Free India Campaign.
The global target for eliminating TB is 2030, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the target for India to eliminate TB is 2025, five years before the global target. He further stated that TB mainly affects poorest of the poor and every step taken towards the elimination of this disease is a step towards improving the lives of the poor.
State governments play a very important role in elimination of TB and were already requested to join in this mission. The frontline workers also play a crucial role in TB elimination along with the people who have demonstrated great courage in defeating this disease.
To achieve 'End TB' targets, the Government has rolled out new `National Strategic Plan (NSP) to end TB by 2025` which has been appreciated by the global community as a model plan for combating Tuberculosis. Government is starting a new scheme for nutritional support, expanding public-private partnership models and aligning strategies to follow the similar success achieved in HIV /AIDS. Information Technology (IT) tools are being used for monitoring the programme and treatment adherence. Community engagement is the hallmark and it is becoming a social movement to End TB in India.
To reduce out of pocket expenditure for poor, the Government has started Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) pharmacies across the country and have made stents and knee replacement affordable for the common man.
TB is the leading infectious killer in India. There were an estimated 28 lakh new cases of TB in 2016, with over 4 lakh people succumbing to the disease, including those with TB and HIV. The new NSP adopts a multi-pronged approach which aims to ‘Detect’ all TB patients with an emphasis on reaching TB patients seeking care from private providers and undiagnosed TB in high-risk populations, ‘Treat’ all patient irrespective of where they seek care adopting a patient centric approach, ‘Prevent’ emergence of TB in susceptible population groups and ‘Build’ empowered institutions and human resources to streamline implementation.
India is also implementing the National Strategic Plan for TB elimination that is backed by a historic funding of over 12,000 crore rupees for the next three years to ensure every TB patient has access to quality diagnosis, treatment, and support. The Prime Minister’s vision to end TB by 2025, five years ahead of the SDG’s has galvanized the efforts of the Revised National Tuberculosis Programme, which has treated over 2 Crore patients since its inception.
7-Jan-2018: Food poisoning, a common outbreak in 2017
Recent data put out by the Union Health Ministry’s Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) has indicated that food poisoning is one of the commonest outbreaks reported in 2017. This is apart from acute diarrhoea disease (ADD).
According to the data, 312 of the 1,649 outbreaks reported till the third week of December 2017 were due to ADD and 242 were due to food poisoning.
The IDSP has interpreted that the incidence of ADD and food poisoning is high in places where food is cooked in bulk, such as canteens, hostels and wedding venues.
It is not just this year. Acute diarrhoea disease and food poisoning have been common outbreaks since 2008. This is followed by chickenpox and measles.
Food poisoning, also called food-borne illness, is caused by eating contaminated food. Infectious organisms including bacteria, viruses and parasites or their toxins are the most common causes.
While it is known that raw meat, poultry and eggs can also harbour diseases, in recent years most outbreaks of food-borne illnesses have been due to contaminated fresh fruits and vegetables.