India joins global movement to raise awareness on Neglected Tropical Diseases
Darpan News Desk IANS, 01 Feb, 2022 12:30 PM
New Delhi, Jan 31 (IANS) Observing the 3rd World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Day as a key moment to highlight the global community's commitment to ending these, India joined close to 40 other nations to illuminate iconic landmarks to raise awareness.
This year, India lit up the New Delhi Railway Station in purple and orange hues to mark the occasion.
At a virtual event organised by National Centre for Vector Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC) to observe World NTD Day, Joint Secretary, Health, Dr Harmeet Singh Grewal, said that the aim of illuminating the iconic New Delhi Railway Station was to generate awareness about NTDs in the visiting public and showcase progress and achievements towards their elimination.
Emphasising on creating a people's movement to eliminate the NTDs, he said: "There is a need for a behavioural change. We must fight it together and engage school children, social workers, activists etc. to create a mass movement to elimination NTDs."
NTDs are caused mostly by a variety of pathogens including viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi, and toxins which affect over 1.7 billion people globally. They are called 'neglected' because they are almost absent from the global health agenda of the developed countries and are associated with stigma and social exclusion.
Lauding India's efforts towards eliminating these diseases, NCVBDC Director, Dr Tanu Jain, said: "Most people don't know about NTDs because these diseases effect the poor and marginalised communities. We need to elevate messaging about NTDs and highlight the positive, ambitious, and winnable NTD goals by focusing on the NTD elimination target. This would happen through close coordination between all stakeholders."
In Jharkhand, Gujarat, and Karnataka too, iconic landmarks and monuments were illuminated as part of their commitment to eliminate NTDs. In Jharkhand, the renowned Rajendra Circle in Ranchi and Clock Tower in Godda district were lit up in pink and orange colours. The office building of the Department of Health and Family Welfare in Bengaluru was also illuminated to mark the occasion.
Most of these farmers had earlier stated that they were present at the spot but were not involved in the attack. They were, at that time, charged under bailable sections such as 'rioting' and 'voluntarily causing hurt' and were let off by the SIT officials under Section 41 of the CrPC.
The Congress is witnessing internal bickering on the issue of security breach of the Prime Minister and Congress MP from Punjab Manish Tewari has termed the incidence as most unfortunate and said the matter should be probed by a sitting High Court Judge.
Addressing a gathering in Tanda in Hoshiarpur district after laying the foundation stone of development work, the Chief Minister said there was no threat to the life of the Prime Minister but he cancelled his programme on Wednesday because of the thin presence of people at the BJP's rally.
High drama was witnessed on Thursday after 125 of 179 international passengers, who arrived at Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport Rajasansi, near here, from Italy, in an Air India flight tested positive on arrival. The Covid passengers were asked to quarantine in local hospital as per the guidelines of the government.
On Wednesday, The Prime Minister's rally in Ferozepur had to be cancelled due to a security lapse after some protesters blocked a route and forced his convoy to spend about 20 minutes on a flyover. The Prime Minister was enroute the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala when the incident happened.
Although the department has all infrastructural needs in place to deal with the large number of cases expected in case of the third wave becoming a reality, he also appealed to the people to get themselves fully vaccinated against the virus as it is the most potent tool to avoid Covid-19.
