PM Modi to inaugurate ICMR facility to enhance research on haemoglobinopathies

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for National Institute for One Health and inaugurate Centre for Research, Management and Control of Haemoglobinopathies in Nagpur on December 11. These institutes will help expedite the country's efforts in enhancing health research to serve vulnerable populations, a health ministry said in a statement.

With increased interaction between humans and animals - domestic and wild - and influenced by climate change, human health can no longer be seen in isolation. More than half of all infections that people get can be spread by animals. In this context, the National Institute for One Health is an important infrastructural milestone, the statement said.

The institute will focus on increasing preparedness and laboratory capabilities for identification of novel and unknown zoonotic agents, it said.

The institute will be equipped with the Bio Safety Level (BSL-IV) laboratory. It will help in investigation of outbreaks of emerging zoonotic agents concerned with public health and developing better control strategies, the statement said.

"The prevalence of sickle cell disease in Vidarbha region of Central India, especially in tribal population, is high with expected carrier frequency as high as 35 per cent in certain tribal groups.

"Realising this issue and the spread of similar diseases in the country, ICMR - Centre for Research, Management and Control of Haemoglobinopathies has been set up and it will play a leading role in research on haemoglobinopathies and similar diseases," the statement said.

The centre is equipped with state-of-the-art diagnostic and research facilities, including bio-banking and proteomics facilities, which will enable India to conduct pathbreaking research on the disease, the statement claimed.

This centre of medical excellence is dedicated to haemoglobinopathies, which are inherited disorders of haemoglobin and include β-thalassemia syndromes and sickle cell disease, among others.

The centre will undertake interventions through community control programmes and translational research that will benefit patients in the "underserved region of Chandrapur and adjoining areas", it added.