Chumoukedima
Regional review meeting of GFATM project states underway
DIMAPUR: A three-day regional review meeting of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) project states got underway on Thursday at Niathu Resort, Chümoukedima.
The regional review meeting is being organised by National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), directorate of Health and Family Welfare, government of Nagaland. Delegates from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and various Northeastern states would be participating in the review meeting from March 16 to the 18th, an update from Health department stated.
It stated that Dr. Neisakho Kere, joint director of Health department and NVBDCP state programme officer, delivered the welcome address, while Dr. Rinku Sharma, joint director and head of NVBDCP Malaria division, Delhi, presented the status of malaria in the 10 GFATM project states.
Dr. Rinku has briefly highlighted the background and milestones in malaria programme in India since its inception in 1953 and the goals and targets to achieve total malaria elimination by the year 2030. She also presented the malaria elimination progress in India since 2015 to 2022.
She stated that both the high malaria case reporting states and low or zero malaria case reporting states would be focused in the elimination programme. She also presented state-wise malaria reporting status and informed that a total of 103 entomological zones were identified in India supported by the GFATM and the government of India. She also urged all the states to implement Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) malaria portal which is a real time reporting of malaria cases entered via the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) portal. She further informed the states to designate one person to cross check the entries on a daily basis.
Later, delegates from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Nagaland presented their respective state’s vector borne diseases status, achievements, gaps and challenges faced in the implementation of Intensified Malaria Elimination Project-2 (IMEP-2).
It informed that state-wise presentations by Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur, and Odisha would be followed on the second day along with feedbacks from national consultants and discussions on specific issues.
On the third day, a high level review-cum-dissemination meeting would be held with the Nagaland minister of Health and Family Welfare, P Paiwang Konyak, as the chief guest. Other officials including Y Kikheto Sema, commissioner and secretary of Health department; Dr. Vibeituonuo M Sachu, principal director of Health department; Dr. Tanu Jain, director of NCVBDC, government of India; and Dr. Ritu Thurr, state NHM mission director, would attend the meeting.