Government will screen more than 5 crore tribal children for sickle cell trait

NEW DELHI: For the first time in India, the government will screen more than 5 crore tribal children for sickle cell trait, a condition that is prevalent in epidemic proportions in tribal-dominated areas and directly linked to malarial deaths. Tribal kids with sickle cell trait will be issued a card and given counseling advising them against marrying another person with a similar condition as this increases the chances of the condition being passed on.

Working on the directives of PM Narendra Modi, who had ordered a similar initiative in Gujarat as chief minister, the tribal affairs ministry will start this exercise in all states from July. The ministry will work in collaboration with states and conduct blood tests of all tribal students in schools and hostels to determine whether they have sickle cell trait.

In the first phase, the government will screen tribal students in schools and hostels managed by tribal welfare departments and then extend it to schools run by the education department and private institutions. The government has identified 10 tribal-dominated Schedule V states as priority states--Andhra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Rajasthan, Himachal, MP, Odisha and Maharashtra. Other priority states include the northeastern states, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The government is using the summer vacation months to train aanganwadi and health workers to conduct the blood test. These will be conducted after schools reopen in July. The government will approach out-of-school children through community groups.

The government’s concern over sickle cell anaemia or sickle cell trait stems from its links to malaria. “This is the first all-India exercise we are conducting,” a senior tribal affairs ministry official told ET. “Earlier, we have just conducted very small sample surveys randomly. But even then the results were never shared with the affected person. It was just random data. We don’t even know the exact prevalence of sickle cell anaemia amongst tribals so far.”