Malaria Free India with Godrej



Importance of ‘Partnerships and Collaborations’ for malaria elimination


03 August 2017 when Godrej Group in partnership with the Vector Control Research Center (VCRC), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), organized ‘Achieving a malaria-free India’, a first-of-its-kind conclave in Mumbai.

I was invited to be part of the esteem drive wherein I get to learn more about the ongoing need and merits of partnerships and collaborations in achieving a malaria-free India. Do check out my tweets with #MalariaFreeIndia for some quick updates/ learnings from the event.













I hope some of the information that I have shared on my tweets are helpful. Do follow me @numerounity on twitter for more edutainment and related content


The conclave had Stakeholders from public, private and social enterprises who forayed together to elaborate the ‘Achieving a malaria-free India’ mission. Stakeholders represented thought leaders from government, academia, the private sector and social & nonprofit organizations.

The conclave also had insightful discussions on India’s current challenges, lessons from the past, the merits and challenges of partnerships, roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders and concrete next steps to make the vision a reality. 

The Panel


The panel comprised of Prof. Dr. Sabesan, Senior Consultant, VCRC; Dr. Anup Anvikar, National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR); Shireen Mistree, India Health Fund, Tata Trusts; Neeraj Jain, Country Director, India, PATH and Vivek Gambhir, Managing Director, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. Indrajit Gupta, Director and Co-founder, Founding Fuel ably moderated the intense discussions at the panel.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Group, said, “Malaria continues to be one of the most significant public health issues confronting India today, with about 1.5 million new cases detected every year. Our Health Ministry has endorsed the goal of achieving a malaria-free India by 2030. Given the scale of the vision outlined, the importance of partnerships and collaborations is paramount. In line with this, our conclave today, aims to create and facilitate impactful conversations on malaria elimination among key thought leaders from the ecosystem.”
  
Mr. Vivek Gambhir, Managing Director, Godrej Consumer Products Limited, said, “With project EMBED (Elimination of Mosquito Borne Endemic Diseases), we have embarked on a journey of collaboration with various stakeholders, including the government, social sector, and the community. With gradual reductions in the malaria burden in our pilot districts, our project model is a testament to the productivity and importance of partnerships. As an FMCG player with a robust household insecticide portfolio, we have brought financial resources, knowledge on mosquito behaviors and prevention strategies, and a strong understanding of community members, to the fight against malaria. To further our outreach efforts, we have partnered with the VCRC for this conclave and will continue to work in collaboration with them to develop an action-oriented way forward from the discussions of the conclave today.”

There were meaningful deliberations on malaria elimination, including individual paper presentations by students of VCRC on different aspects of vector borne diseases[do check out my tweets on Wolbachia]; a presentation on Godrej Consumer Products’ pilot project EMBED by Dr. Vikas Goswami, Head Sustainability, Green, Godrej Industries Limited and Associate Companies and Dr. Bitra George, Country Head, India, FHI 360. Prof. Dr. S. Sabesan unveiled a research paper on ‘Public Private Partnership (PPP) towards malaria elimination in India’.

The conclave was part of Godrej Group’s awareness platform, launched with the vision to create and facilitate impactful conversations around key issues of national significance. It will continue to engage with diverse stakeholders groups including government, academia, NGOs, regulatory bodies, industry bodies, media and digital influencers on socially relevant subjects.

Malaria in India:
The Stats are alarming. India has the highest malaria risk in the Asia Pacific region, with more than one billion people at risk of mosquito borne contamination. Note this-
  • Official estimates reveal 10 lakh cases of malaria reported in the country every year. 
  • India accounts for 70% of malaria cases and 69% of malaria deaths in the South East Asia region. 
  • Over 80% of India’s population lives in ‘malaria transmission high-risk’ areas

The Government of India has made a commitment to eliminate malaria from the country by 2030, in line with the National Framework for Malaria Elimination (NFME) and Global Technical Strategy for Malaria. Eliminating malaria in India will result in substantial public health improvement in the country, and would also lead to important improvements in the economic situation for families burdened by malaria.

Let's us together join hands to help fight this epidemic and eradicate it completely.

[Inputs received from Godrej Group]

-->

0 Visitor's Comments:

Hi Folks,

You heard me...now its time for Bouquets and Brickbats!

My Social Media Channels