CCMB, Tata Trust, NHM to screen people for Sickle Cell Anaemia in Jharkhand

City-based CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) on Friday said it has entered into an MoU with Tata Trust Foundation (TSF) and the National Health Mission (NHM) to screen the population of Jharkhand for Sickle Cell Anaemia (SCA).

The tripartite MoU between CSIR-CCMB, TSF and NHM will enable early detection of Sickle Cell Anaemia, raise awareness about the disease, and have a significant impact on the public health scenario of Jharkhand, contributing towards the eventual elimination of SCA in the state, a CCMB release said.

Sickle Cell Disease is a genetic blood disorder that affects the entire life of an affected patient. It not only causes anaemia but also pain crises and reduced growth, and it affects many organs like the lungs, heart, kidneys, eyes, bones, and brain, according to a government website.

SCA is highly prevalent in several states of the country, mainly in Central India, especially among tribal populations.

The Centre launched the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission (NSCAEM) in July 2023 to eliminate the disease by 2047 through universal screening of approximately seven crore people in the 0–40 years age group in high-prevalence areas, especially tribal regions, it said.

The CSIR conceived the CSIR–Sickle Cell Anaemia Mission in 2018 under the leadership of Giriraj Ratan Chandak, a senior scientist and current Sir JC Bose Fellow at the CSIR-CCMB.

His scientific team has developed a low-cost, rapid, and reliable Dried Blood Spot (DBS) PCR-based molecular test, the first of its kind, the release said.

This indigenously developed, wholly Make-in-India test has been validated as a screening-cum-confirmation test with a sensitivity and specificity of 100 per cent by the Indian Council of Medical Research.

The technique has been used successfully in several areas in the states of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, thus establishing the robustness of the test results in diverse settings as well as generating a demographic map of SCA in the country, it said.

Compared to some other screening models, DBS-PCR is a "game-changer"—a simple, one-step molecular confirmation at a significantly lower cost, the release said.

The collaborative screening efforts (as per the MoU) will begin across the Kolhan region of Jharkhand, comprising East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum, and Seraikela-Kharsawan districts, through a combined network of NHM and TSF.

In addition to training the ANMs, ASHA workers, field assistants, and MANSI+ functionaries of TSF, CSIR-CCMB will facilitate the establishment of a sickle cell testing hub where large-scale screening of the target population will take place, it said.

CSIR-CCMB will also lend its decades of experience in counselling carriers and guiding couples toward prenatal diagnosis to prevent transmission of the disease to future generations, while NHM Jharkhand will facilitate the integration of this screening project into the existing healthcare framework to provide appropriate management to patients, the release added.