INVC,,
Delhi,,
15th August marks the day when India became free from British Rule. The day is celebrated with numerous cultural events including flag-hoisting ceremonies across the country. However, 15th August should also be commemorated as the day for our commitment to eradicate one more disease, said Padma Shri and Dr B C Roy National Awardee Dr KK Aggarwal, president Heart Care Foundation of India in a message. Every year efforts should be made to start a ‘Quit India’ Movement for a particular disease.
In 1992, six “eradicable” or “potentially eradicable” infectious diseases were identified by the International Task Force for Disease Eradication. These were dracunculiasis, poliomyelitis, mumps, rubella, lymphatic filariasis and cysticercosis. In 2002, measles was added to this list.
Of these, only guinea worm disease or dracunculiasis has already been eradicated from India.
Malaria, yellow fever, and yaws eradication programmes of earlier ears were unsuccessful but they contributed greatly to a better understanding of the biological, social, political, and economic complexities of achieving the ultimate goal in disease control. In early 1997, WHO listed leprosy, onchocerciasis (River blindness), and Chaga’s disease as being candidates for elimination “as public health problems within ten years”.
This year on January 12, India completed one year without a new polio case since its last case. This has been a major step in the fight to eradicate the disease from India and the world. This should inspire us and its time for us to create an India force and start working on eradicable diseases.
Dr Aggarwal further pointed out that an effective cardiovascular control program should be strengthened all over the country as heart attacks are not known to occur in wild animals.
