New Delhi

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi having stressed on the need to map sickle cell anemia among tribal population, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has formulated guidelines to tackle the disease in consultation with Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).

As a part of protocol, there would be 100 per cent screening of students in schools for traits of sickle cell anemia through turbidity test, which has been standardised by ICMR.

“The most important strategy towards combating the disease is early identification among children. The per person cost of testing is Rs 2 to 3 only and the Ministry wants to get all children tested by next year.

“The students will be given a card mentioning their sickle cell status. This would be done jointly by local doctors and locally trained educated youths from Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs) with the help of school management committees,” said a senior Ministry official.

In places where school dropout rate is high, the out of school children will be contacted through Panchayat members, Anganwadi workers, ASHAs and ANMs etc.

Also, according to protocol, parents will be counseled so as to ensure two persons carrying traits of sickle cell anemia do not get married to each other.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while reviewing a meeting on tribal welfare in January had stressed the need for mapping of sickle cell anaemia among the tribal population, on a scientific basis. He had also called for concerned departments to explore the possibility of a cure for this disease through stem cell therapy. .

Sickle cell anemia is prevalent in areas like Mizoram (Lawngthiai and Saiha), Odisha (Angul, Rahagada, Gajapati), Andhra Pradesh (Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam), Tamil Nadu (Jawadhu Hills), Manipur (Senapati), Jhakhand (Ranchi and Gumla) and Kerala (Wayanad) where incidence of malaria is high.

Government has planned a series of workshops stating from Odisha to West Bengal, Guwahati and Gujarat in March and April with concerned stakeholders.

“It is a hereditary blood disorder, in which the red blood cells (RBC) of the afflicted are sickle-shaped instead of the normal round shape. When affected by the disease, the flexibility of the RBC decreases and results in a variety of life-threatening complications.

“There is a relationship between sickle cell anemia and malaria. Tribal people with 8.6 per cent share in population account for 50 per cent deaths due to malaria. So the burden of sickle cell of tribal population is high,” the official said.

Surveys by the state Red Cross Society and hospital records indicate nearly 20 per cent of the tribal population and 17 per cent of the scheduled caste population has the disease.

-PTI