Bhubaneswar, March 19: Odisha government and Tata Trusts have signed an MoU to implement malaria control along with research aimed at improving the lives of people in southern districts.
“The state government is fully committed to keep malaria under control and move towards its elimination and keep pace with country’s mission,” said Health and Family Welfare Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak in whose presence the MoU was signed on Friday.
In order to control the transmission of malaria across the southern districts, the collaboration plans to focus on 557 villages in five selected blocks including Bissam Cuttack and Muniguda blocks of Rayagada district, Lanjigarh, Thuamulrampur of Kalahandi, and Kotgarh of Kandhamal district.
This will also include the inaccessible villages from the list of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), Odisha.
Stating that Odisha’s eight costal districts have 30 per cent population of the state, the Minister said this part has very low malaria burden and our NVBDCP division is planning to increase the surveillance in this region further and make this a zero malaria zone within next few years.
“Besides malaria, we are concerned for maternal, infant and child mortality, high prevalence of malnutrition and anemia,” Nayak said.
“When there is so much advance technology in communication front, we should think out of box and resolve the issues in innovative manner in all inaccessible corridors,” the Minister said.
Principal Secretary Health, Arati Ahuja spoke on the motive and benefit of the MOU with Tata Trust and informed about various steps taken to control malaria in Odisha, with a common focus on elimination of malaria by 2030 and improving the overall quality of life of communities.
Tata Trusts, through Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM), aims to reach out to 25000 households along with the Program Management Unit (PMU), which will ensure effective and timely implementation of Malarial Control Programme.
The partnership will help in designing and implementing malaria elimination through early detection, prompt treatment, prevention, vector control, research, technologies and malarial sciences.
Burzis Taraporevala, Chief Accountant and Secretary, Tata Trusts, said, “In southern Odisha, a large number of people are afflicted by this disease and are losing their lives due to a lack of access to proper health care. We are honoured to be given the opportunity to partner with the Government of Odisha towards fighting the spread of malaria and eventually eliminating it from this state.”
“Liaising with government, people and leveraging technology to create a better tomorrow, we hope, that one day, we will be a malaria-free nation,” he said.
