P vivax strain threatens Indias progress towards malaria elimination by 2030 (GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Context:
- India has made great strides in its fight against malaria but it continues to threaten millions in the country.
- This is partially because of plasmodium vivax (P.vivax) which is recurrent, very difficult to treat and greatly disabling.
This strain is different, as the life cycle of P.vivax has an additional stage of placing dormant forms in the liver that can cause multiple malarial attacks over two years, making it one of the most epidemiologically and clinically complex diseases to treat.
Steps to be taken:
- The maxim ‘an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure’, finds few better demonstrations than in malaria caused by P.vivax.
- Vector control is the number one prevention and elimination strategy of these difficult infections. Use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) are other effective ways of preventing malaria caused by P.vivax.
- Awareness campaigns are also central to fighting vivax malaria. There is a lack of awareness about the severity of the disease in India. Media coverage of acute vivaxmalaria, and malaria in general, has also been patchy. Reports of the severity of the disease and information about preventive measures do not reach people at the grassroots at sufficient frequency.
ASHA workers:
- Under the current policy, it is the responsibility of ASHA workers to drive awareness on matters of public health.
- As ASHA workers are also responsible for immunization, community-based screening, risk assessment, and ensuring follow-up action – they need to understand why vivax malaria must be combatted with more rigor than ever before.
- Therefore, the success of public health campaigns to eradicate malaria rests largely upon training ASHA workers on awareness and communication strategies to slow the spread of P.vivax.
Malaria drugs & resistance:
- There are rapid elimination therapies that have been developed, like the drugs of blood schizonticides and hypnozoitocides. Together, these two drug classes are referred to as a ‘radical cure’ in malariology.
- The partnership of chloroquine and primaquine has been the only pair of drugs with no drug-drug interactions and remains the most effective radical cure of vivax-caused malaria.
- However, P.vivax is becoming resistant to chloroquine, which has led to the development of new blood schizonticide-primaquine partnerships. The difficulty of consistently finding new blood schizonticides as the disease evolves will limit the therapeutical options for the radical cure of vivax malaria.
- Secondly, the only drug that’s resistant to relapses of P.vivax is primaquine, a drug that causes mild, severe and fatal cases of acute hemolytic anemia in patients having an inborn deficiency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD).
- This complex disorder affects 400 million persons globally, with an average prevalence in malaria-endemic nations of 8%.There is technology to diagnose the G6PD deficiency where most of the patients live, but point-of-care testing needs to be strengthened.
- The 14 days of daily dosing with primaquinehas been designed with G6PD deficiency safety in mind.
Way Forward:
- In India, since most of the population’s healthcare needs are catered to by both the formal and informal private sector, it ultimately becomes even more important to ensure that the radical cure for P.vivax is properly administered.
Government considering PLI scheme for furniture sector
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
The Union government is considering a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for certain types of furniture to boost domestic manufacturing, and exports and create jobs in the sector.
PLI in 14 sectors:
- The government has already rolled out the scheme with an outlay of about Rs 2 lakh crore for as many as 14 sectors, including automobiles and auto components, white goods, pharma, textiles, advance chemistry cell and speciality steel.
Focus area:
- The objective of the scheme is to make domestic manufacturing globally competitive and to create global champions in manufacturing.
- Discussions are on for the PLI scheme for moulded furniture and toys.
- The toy industry has demanded an extension of the scheme for the sector as it would promote local manufacturing and create jobs.
Furniture exports:
- As per estimates, furniture export, at present, is about USD 400 million per year.
- Global furniture exports currently stand at USD 264 billion, and half of the market share is dominated by five countries - China, Germany, Poland, Italy and Vietnam.
Way Forward:
- Due to growing competitiveness in the moulded furniture sector and toy sector, the PLI scheme would be a thoughtful step in that direction.
Victim knows the offender in over 95 per cent rape cases in India: Report
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
Why in news?
In all the rape cases reported in 2021 in India, over 95 per cent of victims knew the offender, according to Crime in India 2021 report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). This holds true in the case of both rape of women and children.
Details:
- A total of 65,025 such cases were reported in 2021. 96.8 per cent of the victims knew the rapist beforehand.
- In Rajasthan, which reported the highest number of rapes against women, 95.8 per cent of victims knew the offender.
- In child rape cases, Madhya Pradesh reported the maximum cases, 99.1 per cent of the victims knew the offenders.
- In five states, 100 per cent of the women raped knew their rapists beforehand. These are Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim.
- In six states, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Odisha, Punjab, and Telangana, over 99 per cent of the victims knew the offenders.
- The highest number of rapes against women were reported by "Family friends/ Neighbours/ Employer or Other Known Persons".
Case of Delhi:
- Delhi recorded the highest number of rape cases against women and children in union territories at 1,250 and 845, respectively. For women, the maximum rapes in Delhi were perpetrated by "Friends/ Online Friends or Live in Partners on Pretext of Marriage / Separated Husband."
- In child rape cases in Delhi, the maximum was committed by "Friends/ Online Friends or Live in Partners on Pretext of Marriage."
Unknown offenders:
- On the other hand, out of all the states, the highest number of rapes by unknown people were committed in West Bengal. According to data, out of 1,123 rape cases against women, 212 or nearly 20 per cent of offenders were unknown to the victims. In child rape cases, too, almost 20 per cent of victims did not know the offender beforehand.
- Among the UTs, nearly half of the rape victims, women and children, in Puducherry did not know the offender.
Law:
- In India, rapes against women are charged under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
- In the cases of child rape, the offender is charged under sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act.
Ad5-nCoV, inhaled version of a Covid-19 vaccine
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Why in news?
- Recently, China became the first country to approve a needle-free, inhaled version of a Covid-19 vaccine made by Tianjin-based CanSino Biologics Inc.
- China’s National Medical Products Administration approved CanSino’s Ad5-nCoV for emergency use as a booster vaccine.
Version of CanSino:
- The vaccine is a new version of CanSino’sone-shotCovid drug, the first in the world to undergo human testing in March 2020.
- It has been used in China, Mexico, Pakistan, Malaysia and Hungary after being rolled out in February 2021.
Key Highlights:
- The vaccine, which uses a modified cold-causing virus to expose the immune system to the coronavirus, is similar to those developed by AstraZeneca Plc and Johnson & Johnson.
- The inhaled version can stimulate cellular immunity and induce mucosal immunity to boost protection without intramuscular injection.
Way Forward:
- Companies are looking into developing inhaled versions of vaccines to stimulate antibodies in nasal and airway tissues to defend against coronavirus.
They are needle-free and can be self-administered, broadening their appeal to vaccine-hesitant people and potentially easing pressure on health-care resources.
