Godrej initiated a  dialogue on importance of Partnerships and Collaborations’ for malaria elimination

 Stakeholders from public, private and social enterprises come together at the ”Achieving a malaria-free India’ Conclave”What happens when people come together to get rid of Malaria? #MalariaFreeIndia
Malaria runs, hides and eventually we are free of it. An amazing example of CSR and public goodwill.

What happened in Mumbai on 3rd August 2017?

Mumbai, 03 August 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, the 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 was discussed.

Who all graced the occasion?

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.”

Speaking at the conclave, Mr. Vivek Gambhir, Managing Director, Godrej Consumer Products Limited, said,

“With project EMBED (Elimination of Mosquito Borne Endemic Diseases), we have embarked on a journey of collaboration with various stakeholders, including the government, social sector, and the community. With gradual reductions in the malaria burden in our pilot districts, our project model is a testament to the productivity and importance of partnerships. As a FMCG player with a robust household insecticide portfolio, we have brought financial resources, knowledge on mosquito behaviours and prevention strategies, and a strong understanding of community members, to the fight against malaria. To further our outreach efforts, we have partnered with the VCRC for this conclave and will continue to work in collaboration with them to develop an action-oriented way forward from the discussions of the conclave today.”

The conclave saw meaningful deliberations on malaria elimination, including: individual paper presentations by students of VCRC on different aspects of vector borne diseases; a presentation on Godrej Consumer Products’ pilot project EMBED by Dr. Vikas Goswami, Head Sustainability, Good & Green, Godrej Industries Limited and Associate Companies and Dr. Bitra George, Country Head, India, FHI 360. Prof. Dr. S. Sabesan unveiled a research paper on ‘Public Private Partnership (PPP) towards malaria elimination in India’.

The conclave was part of Godrej Group’s awareness platform.It was launched with the vision to create and facilitate impactful conversations around key issues that are of national significance. The platform will continue to engage with diverse stakeholders groups including government, academia, NGOs, regulatory bodies, industry bodies, media and digital influencers on socially relevant subjects.

What you need to know

Malaria in India:

India has the highest malaria burden in the Asia Pacific region.More than one billion people are at risk of infection. Official estimates reveal 10 lakh cases of malaria reported in the country every year.

India accounts for 70% of malaria cases and 69% of malaria deaths in the South East Asia region. Over 80% of India’s population lives in ‘malaria transmission high-risk’ areas

The Government of India has made a commitment to eliminate malaria from the country by 2030, in line with the National Framework for Malaria Elimination (NFME) and Global Technical Strategy for Malaria. Eliminating malaria in India will result in substantial public health improvement in the country, and would also lead to important improvements in the economic situation for families burdened by malaria.

#MalariaFreeIndia a commendable initiative by @GodrejGroup Dr.Bitra George,Dr Anup Anvilkar, Dr. Neeraj Jain, Shireen Mistri, #Awareness pic.twitter.com/9tH5TygeqK

— DrAmrita BasuMisra???? (@misra_amrita) August 3, 2017

About Godrej Group

Established in 1897, the Godrej Group has its roots in India’s Independence and Swadeshi movement. The founder, Ardeshir Godrej, lawyer-turned-serial entrepreneur failed with a few ventures before he struck gold with a locks business.

Today, Godrej enjoys the patronage of 1.1 billion consumers globally across consumer goods, real estate, appliances, agriculture and many other businesses. Their geographical footprints extend beyond Earth, with their engines now powering many of India’s space missions.

With revenue of over USD 4.1 billion, we are growing fast, and have exciting and ambitious aspirations. Their Vision for 2020 is to be 10 times the size we were in 2010.

But for them, it is most important that besides strong financial performance and innovative, much-loved products, they remain a good company. Approximately 23 per cent of the promoter holding in the Godrej Group is held in trusts that invest in the environment, health and education. We are also bringing together their passion and purpose to make a difference through their Good & Green strategy of ‘shared value’ to create a more inclusive and greener India.

At the heart of all of this, are their people.Godrej is proud of fostering an inspiring workplace, with an agile and high-performance culture. They  are also deeply committed to recognizing and valuing diversity across our teams.

Appendix

Quotes from Speakers and Panelists:

Dr. Vikas Goswami, Head Sustainability, Good & Green, Godrej Industries Limited and Associate Companies

“Malaria is a major public health concern for the country today. While substantial progress has been made towards reducing the malaria burden globally and in India as well, the problem still persists. Keeping in mind India’s goal of being malaria-free by 2030, our initiative EMBED (Elimination of Mosquito Borne Endemic Diseases) will contribute towards the strong momentum in the malaria elimination effort by creating awareness about malaria and driving associated behavior change, especially among the high-risk population groups.”

Dr. Bitra George, Country Head, India, FHI 360

“Godrej and Family Health India are working closely with Department of Health & Family Welfare, Government of Madhya Pradesh to realize the National Strategy for Malaria Elimination in India by 2030. Our project, EMBED, focuses on driving sustainable behavior change among community members to ensure that they are empowered with the right information to take charge of their own protection against malaria. We have worked on building long-lasting relationships with the local and state governments of MP, local NGOs, ASHA workers, the health system, and the local community, to employ a collaborative approach in our effort to eliminate malaria in MP.”

Neeraj Jain, Country Director, India, PATH

“While India has seen a sharp drop in both incidence and mortality rates, Malaria is still a major public health challenge. Past successes have been achieved through measures to protect against mosquito bites and by quicker diagnosis followed by appropriate drug therapies.

The Government has set a target of 2030 for malaria elimination in India but for this to be a reality, there is a desperate need for multiple stakeholders including government, development partners, academia and private sector, to come together and work in coordination”

Dr. Anup Anvikar, NIMR, ICMR:

“India has launched the National Framework for Malaria Elimination. There is a need for all the partners like National Programme, Industries, Research Organisations, NGOs, academia, community, media etc. work together to tackle the challenges. ICMR National Institute of Malaria Research, with its headquarters in Delhi and support of 10 field units across the country work closely with the national program. It conducts basic, operational and applied research to find short and long term solutions for malaria control. It has played a vital role by providing evidence for revisions in drug and insecticide policy, assuring the quality of diagnostics, evaluating new control tools and developing trained manpower.”

Prof. Dr. Sabesan, Senior Consultant, VCRC

“VCRC continues to partner with the national program by developing newer tools and innovative vector control strategies, providing technical expertise and assistance and studying the epidemiology of vector borne diseases. PPP is an important approach to eliminate malaria from India. Overall, the private sector, along with other stakeholders, has significantly contributed to the momentum towards malaria-elimination in India, but we have a long road ahead of us. Several private organizations including Godrej, Sun Pharma, and Caritas India, have also employed collaborative approaches in their respective programs to work towards this common goal. Thus, a replication of such an approach across other endemic areas in the country, wherein partners work together till the end-game is won, will go a long way in bringing us closer to a safer, malaria-free India.”

Shireen Mistree, India Health Fund, Tata Trusts

“The fastest route to wealthy nation/India is a healthy nation/India. Our only mode of transport: strong collaboration and robust partnerships geared towards quick and effective solutions. Tata Trusts in partnership with The Global Fund has designed The India Health Fund; a vehicle to not only facilitate strong inter-sectoral partnerships but also serve as a mechanism to generate effective solutions in addressing key public health challenges in India which include mitigation of Malaria.”

Indrajit Gupta, Director, and Co-founder, Founder Fuel

“The Godrej conclave on “Achieving a Malaria-Free India” was timely, relevant and tied in well with the government’s mission to eradicate malaria by 2030. The perspectives from a diverse set of speakers at the panel discussion on collaborations and partnerships was valuable and insightful and an important conversation to initiate, given that we need to bring on board multiple stakeholders from business, government, and the social sector if we have to win the war against malaria.”

Malaria and India: Facts you should know

On the occasion of Independence Day, Godrej is conducting a malaria awareness which is phase 2 of the Malaria Eradication event on social media.

1.     Sri Lanka and Maldives are malaria-free. Let us all rise to the occasion to give India #FreedomFromMalaria within this generation.

2.     90% of malaria deaths occur in rural India, including pregnant women and children. #FreedomFromMalaria by 2030 shall transform rural India.

3.     Malaria costs India $2 billion annually. Each rupee invested in malaria gives 20 in return. #FreedomFromMalaria is crucial to India’s growth

4.     India has the highest number of malaria cases after Nigeria and Congo, and >85% of all malaria in Asia. India owes itself #FreedomFromMalaria

5.     India’s #FreedomFromMalaria by 2030 shall mark a historic turning point in Asia’s fight against the disease (source)

6.     Focused leadership, enhanced investment and coordinated strategies shall ensure India gains #FreedomFromMalaria by 2030.

8.     India needs $1.6 billion over 5 years for malaria elimination. Civil society & Pvt sector can play a big role in India’s #FreedomFromMalaria

9.     India has heroically defeated polio in the past. If India wills, it can do it again by eliminating malaria by 2030. #FreedomFromMalaria

10.  India’s progress in nearly halving malaria cases since 2000 is remarkable. India has set its sight on gaining #FreedomFromMalaria by 2030.

11.  India made a historic commitment to the world to eliminate malaria by 2030 & it has a roadmap to make that happen (source)

Disclaimer: This is part of the Official press release for Partnerships and Collaborations’ for #Malariaelimination an initiative by Godrej.

Read my full disclaimer.