Godrej initiates Malaria -free India collaboration

Mumbai, August 07, 2017: ‘Achieving a malaria-free India’, a first-of-its-kind conclave, organized by the Godrej Group in partnership with the Vector Control Research Center (VCRC), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), was held today at Godrej ONE, Mumbai. Stakeholders representing thought leaders from government, academia, private sector and social & non-profit organizations, discussed the need and merits of partnerships and collaborations in achieving a malaria-free India.

The key highlight of the conclave was a panel discussion on ‘Partnerships and Collaborations towards achieving malaria-free India’. Insightful discussions on India’s current challenges, lessons from the past, the merits and challenges of partnerships, roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders and concrete next steps to make the vision a reality were discussed. It was a power-packed panel comprising Prof. Dr. Sabesan, Senior Consultant, VCRC; Dr. Anup Anvikar, National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR); Shireen Mistree, India Health Fund, Tata Trusts; Neeraj Jain, Country Director, India, PATH and Vivek Gambhir, Managing Director, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. Indrajit Gupta, Director and Co-founder, Founding Fuel moderated the panel.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Group, said, “Malaria continues to be one of the most significant public health issues confronting India today, with about 1.5 million new cases detected every year. Our Health Ministry has endorsed the goal of achieving a malaria-free India by 2030. Given the scale of the vision outlined, the importance of partnerships and collaborations is paramount. In line with this, our conclave today, aims to create and facilitate impactful conversations on malaria elimination among key thought leaders from the ecosystem.”

The Chief Guest of the conclave, Dr. Shampa Nag, Project Director, Caritas India, said, “Partnerships and collaborations present continuous opportunities within the ambit of multi-sectoral approach. They act as catalyzing factors for bridging the physical and behavioural barriers and enabling the motivators/influencers to expand application of interventions as well as strengthening community systems alongside extending support to improve overall health systems. Leveraging distinctive strengths of stakeholders, the National Vector Borne Disease Control Program (NVBDCP), civil society organizations & corporate sector, donor & partner agencies, and others should reaffirm the commitment to advance our common elimination vision.”