Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare
Eleventh Day of less than 50K Daily New Cases
Posted
On: 18 NOV 2020 12:43PM by PIB
44,739 COVID-19
patients recovered in the last 24 hours against just 38,617 newly detected cases. This translates
to a net reduction of 6,122 in the Active Caseload which now stands at 4,46,805. The active caseload as on date comprises
merely 5.01% of all COVID19 cases.
There has been a continuous decline in the average daily cases since
the past many weeks.
Apart from the successful dissemination of COVID
Appropriate Behaviour among the varied population groups, this trend assumes
wider significance as many countries in Europe and
The Recovery Rate has improved to 93.52% today. The total recovered cases stand at 83,35,109.
74.98% of the
new recovered cases are contributed by ten States/UTs.
With 6,620 persons recovering from COVID, Kerala saw the
most number of recoveries. Maharashtra registered 5,123 daily recoveries while
Ten States/UTs have contributed 76.15% of the new cases.
78.9% of the 474 case fatalities that have been reported in
the past 24 hours are from Ten States/UTs.
20.89% of new
fatalities reported are from
****
MV
HFW/COVID States data/18November2020/1
(Release ID: 1673680) Visitor Counter : 189
Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare
Dr. Harsh Vardhan addresses Global
Prevention Coalition (GPC) for HIV Prevention
“India’s prevention model can be adopted and scaled up in many countries by
tailoring the intervention as per local settings”
Dr. Harsh Vardhan showcases steps taken by India to protect gains in HIV
prevention during COVID-19 Pandemic
Posted
On: 18 NOV 2020 5:05PM by PIB
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family
Welfare digitally addressed the Ministerial meeting of the Global Prevention
Coalition (GPC) for HIV Prevention, here today through Video Conference.
Hosted by UNAIDS and UNFPA on behalf of the Global HIV
Prevention Coalition (GPC),the conference this year holds significance in
achieving the 2016 UNGA commitment to end AIDS by 2030. Member States of
GPC had agreed to reduce new adult HIV infections by 75% at the end of 2020
from 2010 levels.
Acknowledging that Global AIDS response has shown
remarkable success in reducing new infections, improving access to prevention services
for key population and treatment services for People living with HIV (PLHIV),
reducing AIDS related mortality, enabling reduction in mother to child
transmission of HIV and creating an enabling environment, Dr. Harsh Vardhan
noted that the organization “has shown to the world a model where multiple
stakeholders can come together and work cohesively towards a common goal.”
Dr. Harsh Vardhan expressed his elation at the fact that
the provision of generic Anti-Retroviral drugs (ARV) from
Speaking on India’s unique HIV prevention model which is
centeredaround the concept of ‘Social Contracting’ through which the Targeted
Interventions (TI) programme is implemented, the Union Health Minister
remarked, “With support from Non-Government Organizations, the programme is
aimed at providing outreach, service delivery, counselling & testing and
ensuring linkages to HIV care.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan elaborated how
The Union Health Minister apprised the audience how India
had revamped its Targeted Intervention (TI) programme to focus on hard-to-reach
populations to keep its commitments- People living in prisons and other closed
settings were considered as priority populations and interventions launched
were gradually scaled up since 2016; the HIV Counselling & Testing Services
(HCTS), Community based Screening of HIV for improving early diagnosis were
also ramped up; the coverage of testing for HIV across the country was
increased to achieve the Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV. He
also added that under the Test and Treat Policy, approximately 50,000 PLHIV who
were lost to follow-upwere linked back to Anti-Retroviral Treatment
servicesthrough ‘Mission SAMPARK’, whileViral Load Testing facilities have been
scaled up from the existing ten public sector labs to 64 labs across the
country.
In this regard, he also mentioned the enactment of The
Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
(Prevention and Control) Act, 2017 which has provided a legal and enabling
framework for safeguarding the human rights of the infected and affected
populations.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan also warned the various stakeholders of newer vulnerabilities and risks exacerbated by the pandemic that warrant a graded and coordinated response. He ended his speech by reiteratingIndia’s commitment to achieve the 90-90-90 targets across the country by the end of the current year and also end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.
Smt. Arti Ahuja, Addl. Secretary (Health), Sh. Alok Saxena,
Jt. Secretary (Health), Smt. ShobiniRajan, ADG, NACO were also present at the
meet.
****
MV
(Release ID: 1673749) Visitor Counter : 84
Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare
Turning Crisis into Opportunity:
Dr. Harsh Vardhan reveals how India’s preparation for containing the COVID-19
Pandemic can be repurposed to eradicate TB by 2025
“For TB elimination, we need to create a mass movement against it with
strategized advocacy, thought leadership, disruptive social entrepreneurship,
powerful societal and political commitment"
Posted
On: 18 NOV 2020 8:20PM by PIB
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family
Welfare digitally addressed the 33rdStop TB Partnership Board meet, here today
through Video Conference.
Acknowledging that COVID-19 has turned the clock back by
many years, if not decades, in the fight against infectious diseases, Dr. Harsh
Vardhan said, “The deadly virus has derailed our painstaking efforts of many
decades and diverted scientific attention from many infectious killer diseases
like TB. The lockdowns have raised insurmountable barriers for patients and
people are still living in fear of the Coronavirus. We all know that the last
ten months have seen treatment interruptions, hindered availability of drugs,
shrinking supply of diagnostic tests, delays in diagnosis, interrupted supply
chains, diversion of manufacturing capacity and imposition of physical barriers
for patients who must travel to distant clinics to pick up the medications.”
Congratulating the Stop TB Partnership for proactively
contacting countries regarding the implementation of their TB Programs during
the pandemic, the Minister highlighted India’s “TB Harega, Desh Jeetega”
campaign that targets to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal target
related to TB by 2025, five years ahead of the global target of 2030; India had
nearly trebled efforts on increasing TB notifications and had managed to close
the gap in ‘Missing million TB cases’.
Taking stock of the setback caused by COVID, he noted,
“During the period of January to October 2020, only 14.5 lakh TB cases have
been notifiedwhich is 29% lower than the same period in 2019, with the decline
being over 35 - 40% in some States like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,
Manipur and Goa.” In the same vein, he also highlighted the silver lining in
states like Sikkim, Telangana, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Himachal
Pradesh and Odisha whichhad witnessed less than 20% impact even during the
lockdown period. “These states strategized to integrate their TB case finding
activities with COVID preventive measures,” he added.
Elaborating on the steps taken to mitigate the impact of
COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Harsh Vardhan mentioned the Union Health Ministry’s
recommendation of bi-directional TB-COVID screening, screening among
He, thereafter gave an account of how TB services are
gradually recovering with the measures undertaken, “Health facilities are
opening up and more and more people are presenting themselves before the
government and private health clinics to get tested. Case finding through
outreach activities in the community have also picked up. With the gradual
return of staff who had been diverted for COVID activities, public health
action such as counselling, contact tracing and disbursement of nutritional
support are also picking up.”
Speaking on
i.
Several dedicated Infectious Disease Hospitals
have come up as a part of the pandemic response measures which would contribute
in a major way towards TB care and management.
ii.
The molecular diagnostic capacity of the
country has increased multi-fold. These multi-platform devices based on
cartridge and chip-based technology can decentralize TB diagnosis.
iii.
Behavioural changes acquired during the
pandemic such as cough hygiene, use of masks, physical distancing will further
help reduce the transmission of Tuberculosis which is a respiratory illness.
iv.
The increased uptake of telemedicine and
teleconsultation during the pandemic will provide channels of consultation for
tuberculosis.
Exhorting the health leadership of the world to drive
government policy, raise investments in healthcare sector and also raise the
awareness of the general masses towards the loss of precious lives that is
happening through uncontrolled infectious diseases like TB, Dr. Harsh Vardhan
ended his address by noting: “TB elimination is not so difficult if we can
create a mass movement against the disease. It needs strategized advocacy,
thought leadership and disruptive social entrepreneurship. It needs mass mobilisation,
aggressive campaigns, powerful partners and deep commitments. And most of all,
it needs a powerful societal and political commitment.”
Sh. Vikas Sheel, Jt. Secretary (Health) and other senior
officials were also present at the meet.
****
MV
(Release ID: 1673854) Visitor Counter : 34
No comments:
Post a Comment