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Chattoo S, Jain D, Nashine N, Singh R. A social profile of deaths related to sickle cell disease in India: a case for an ethical policy response. Front Public Health 2023; 11:1265313. [PMID: 38179555 PMCID: PMC10764579 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1265313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2023] [Accepted: 11/29/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024] Open
Abstract
India accounts for 14.5 percent of the global SCD newborns, roughly over 42,000 a year, second to sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the availability of cheap diagnostic and treatment options, SCD remains a largely neglected disease within healthcare policy and practice. Epidemiological modeling based on small, often dated, regional studies (largely from sub-Saharan Africa) estimate that between 50 and 90 percent of affected children will/die before the age of 5 years. This premise, coupled with targets of reducing under 5 mortality (SDG 4), privileges public health interventions for screening and prevention of new births, undermining investments in long-term health and social care. This paper presents a retrospective, descriptive analysis of the socio-demographic profile of 447 patients diagnosed with sickle cell or sickle-beta thalassemia, who died following admission at a tertiary care entre in India. We used anonymized hospital records of 3,778 sickle cell patients, admitted in pediatric and adult/medical wards between January 2016 and February 2021. A majority of hospital deaths occurred in the second and third decades of life, following a hospital admission for a week. The overall mortality during 2016-2019 was 14% with little gender difference over time. Contrary to our expectations, the number of hospital deaths did not increase during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, between 2020 and 2021. The conclusion highlights the importance of longitudinal, socio-demo-graphic data on deaths as providing important insights for identifying ethical policy interventions focused on improving SCD outcomes over time, reducing inequities in access to care, and preventing what might be considered "excess" deaths.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sangeeta Chattoo
- Department of Sociology, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Dipty Jain
- Department of Pediatrics, Arihant Hospital, Nagpur, India
- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India
| | - Nidhi Nashine
- Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
| | - Rajan Singh
- Institute of Socio-Economic Research on Development and Democracy (ISERDD), New Delhi, India
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Babu BV, Sharma Y, Sridevi P, Surti SB, Bhat D, Ranjit M, Sudhakar G, Sarmah J. Strengthening Health System and Community Mobilization for Sickle Cell Disease Screening and Management among Tribal Populations in India: An Interventional Study. Hemoglobin 2023; 47:227-236. [PMID: 38189147 DOI: 10.1080/03630269.2023.2300675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
Sickle cell disease (SCD) affects 5% of the global population, with over 300,000 infants born yearly. In India, 73% of those with the sickle hemoglobin gene belong to indigenous tribes in remote regions lacking proper healthcare. Despite the prevalence of SCD, India lacked state-led public health programs until recently, leaving a gap in screening and comprehensive care. Hence, the Indian Council of Medical Research conducted implementation research to address this gap. This paper discusses the development and impact of the program, including screening and treatment coverage for SCD in tribal areas. With a quasi-experimental design, this study was conducted in six tribal-dominated districts in three phases - formative, intervention, and evaluation. The intervention included advocacy, partnership building, building the health system's capacity and community mobilization, and enabling the health systems to screen and manage SCD patients. The capacity building included improving healthcare workers' skills through training and infrastructure development of primary healthcare (PHC) facilities. The impact of the intervention is visible in terms of people's participation (54%, 76% and 93% of the participants participated in some intervention activities, underwent symptomatic screening and demanded the continuity of the program, respectively), and improvement in SCD-related knowledge of the community and health workers (with more than 50% of net change in many of the knowledge-related outcomes). By developing screening and treatment models, this intervention model demonstrated the feasibility of SCD care at the PHC level in remote rural areas. This accessible approach allows the tribal population in India to routinely seek SCD care at their local PHCs, offering great convenience. Nevertheless, additional research employing rigorous methodology is required to fine-tune the model. National SCD program may adopt this model, specifically for community-level screening and management of SCD in remote and rural areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bontha V Babu
- Division of Socio-Behavioural & Health Systems Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Yogita Sharma
- Division of Socio-Behavioural, Health Systems & Implementation Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Parikipandla Sridevi
- Department of Biotechnology, Central Tribal University of Andhra Pradesh, Vizianagaram, India
| | - Shaily B Surti
- Department of Community Medicine, Parul Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Parul University, Vadodara, India
| | - Deepa Bhat
- Department of Anatomy, JSS Medical College, JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, Mysore, India
| | - Manoranjan Ranjit
- Indian Council of Medical Research-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, India
| | - Godi Sudhakar
- Department of Human Genetics, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India
| | - Jatin Sarmah
- Department of Biotechnology, Bodoland University, Kokrajhar, India
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Chandra A, Sreeganga SD, Rath N, Ramaprasad A. Healthcare Policies to Eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in India: A Roadmap. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2023; 20:6842. [PMID: 37835112 PMCID: PMC10572727 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20196842] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Revised: 09/23/2023] [Accepted: 09/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023]
Abstract
The need for systemic healthcare policies to systematically eliminate NTDs globally and in India has been stressed for more than two decades. Yet, the present policies and the research on them do not meet the need. We present an ontological framework, a research roadmap, and a policy brief to address the gap. The ontology clearly, concisely, and comprehensively represents the combinations of diseases, the objectives regarding the diseases, the entities to address them, the outcomes sought, and the potential policy instruments to invoke. The paper explicates the state of the-policies and state of the research on policies to eliminate NTDs in India. It highlights the significant gaps in the diseases covered, balance in the objectives, comprehensiveness of policies, portfolio of outcomes, and involvement of entities. Last, it presents a set of systemic policies congruent with the ontology to systematically address the gaps. The recommendations are aligned with the present research, policies, practices, and recommendations in India and of the WHO, UN agencies, and other similar bodies. The approach can be generalized to provide roadmaps for other countries facing a similar challenge and for other diseases of similar complexity. The roadmaps, with continuous feedback and learning, can help navigate the challenge efficiently and effectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ajay Chandra
- School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Chanakya University, Bengaluru 562110, India;
| | - S. D. Sreeganga
- Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat 131001, India;
| | - Nibedita Rath
- Open Source Pharma Foundation, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru 560012, India;
| | - Arkalgud Ramaprasad
- Information and Decision Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60605, USA
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Sridevi P, Sharma Y, Balakrishna SL, Babu BV. Sickle cell disease treatment and management in India: a systematic review of interventional studies. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 2022; 116:1101-1111. [PMID: 36227060 DOI: 10.1093/trstmh/trac095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2022] [Revised: 08/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Sickle cell disease (SCD) affects approximately 5% of the world's population, and India has been the second highest country in the numbers of predicted SCD births. Despite the high burden in India, there is no state-led public health programme, and very few interventions dealing with the treatment and management of SCD are available. This review highlights the dearth of SCD-related interventions, and demonstrates that these interventions effectively improve patients' conditions and are feasible to implement in India. We systematically searched three databases-PubMed/Medline, Google Scholar and Web of Science-for articles from India on SCD-related interventions. The PRISMA guidelines were followed during this review. We included 22 studies, of which 19 dealt with specific therapeutic interventions, and 3 with comprehensive SCD care. Hydroxyurea therapy was the main therapy in 15 studies and is efficacious. Three studies demonstrated the feasibility of comprehensive care in resource-limited settings. The low number of SCD-related intervention studies does not match the huge burden of SCD in India. Governments of endemic countries should consider the findings of available interventions and include them in their countries' programmes. Comprehensive care is feasible in India and other low-resource settings, from screening to treatment and psychosocial support.
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Affiliation(s)
- Parikipandla Sridevi
- D epartment of Biot echnology, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, India
| | - Yogita Sharma
- Division of Socio-Behavioural & Health Systems Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Sunnam L Balakrishna
- D epartment of Biot echnology, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, India.,Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Central University of Kerala, Periye, India
| | - Bontha V Babu
- Division of Socio-Behavioural & Health Systems Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
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Abstract
Sickle cell disease (SCD) predisposes the patient to recurrent episodes of acute painful hemolytic crisis. Sickle cell nephropathy (SCN) is not uncommon in adult patients, and renal manifestations of SCN include renal ischemia, microinfarcts, renal papillary necrosis, and renal tubular abnormalities with variable clinical presentations. Intravascular hemolysis and reduced glomerular filtration rate with renal tubular dysfunction predispose to true hyperkalemia. Hemolytic crisis can be complicated by sepsis, leading to significant degrees of thrombocytosis, and thrombocytosis is a well-defined cause of pseudohyperkalemia. We describe a 40-year-old African American male patient with sickle cell anemia who exhibited alternating episodes of true hyperkalemia and pseudohyperkalemia, during consecutive hospital admissions. Clearly, true hyperkalemia is a potentially lethal condition. At the same time, the institution of inappropriate and intensive treatment of pseudohyperkalemia leading to severe hypokalemia is also potentially lethal. The need for this caution is most imperative with the recent introduction of the safer and more potent potassium binders, patiromer and sodium zirconium cyclosilicate.
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