The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and pharmaceutical major Sun Pharma have entered into a public-private partnership (PPP) to eradicate malaria.
- The partners will jointly set up management and technical committees to provide oversight for malaria surveillance and elimination.
- In its first phase, the project will be launched at Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh, covering 1,200 villages over three to five years.
- As part of this corporate social responsibility initiative, Sun Pharma will launch an independent not-for-profit foundation.
- Sixty percent of malaria cases in India are take place in the Northeastern region and five states— Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
ICMR
- The Indian Council of Medical Research the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of bio-medical research, is one of the oldest and largest medical research bodies in the world.
- In 1911, the Government of India set up the Indian Research Fund Association (IRFA) with the specific objective of sponsoring and coordinating medical research in the country. After independence, several important changes were made in the organisation and the activities of the IRFA. It was re-designated the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 1949, with considerably expanded scope of functions.
- The ICMR is funded by the Government of India through the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- ICMR’s 26 National Institutes address themselves to research on specific health topics like tuberculosis, leprosy, cholera and diarrhoeal diseases, viral diseases including AIDS, malaria, kala-azar, vector control, nutrition, food & drug toxicology, reproduction, immuno-haematology, oncology, medical statistics, etc.
