EMBED: MP Govt's Program Supported By Godrej And Family Health India Aims Malaria Free Nation

India, 25 April 2023 11:51 AM GMT

The ultimate goal of EMBED was to enable community action towards preventing, treating, and controlling malaria and dengue at the household and community level.

Mosquito-Borne Diseases like malaria are a major public health concern in India. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), India accounted for the highest number of malaria cases and deaths in the Southeast Asia region in 2019. In the same year, there were an estimated 5.6 million malaria cases in India and 10,700 deaths due to the disease. In recent years, India has made impressive progress in its fight against malaria by reducing the number of cases by almost 66% between 2018 and 2022. While this is certainly a noteworthy achievement, and it is the nation's aim to become malaria-free, it is important to acknowledge initiatives happening at the grass-roots level that are using a community-driven approach for a larger change.

On World Malaria Day, let’s know more about the national programme and the government of Madhya Pradesh’s efforts that reduced malaria led morbidity and mortality by 89%. Godrej Consumer Products Ltd has partnered with govt of Madhya Pradesh, Family Health India(FHI), since 2016 through their flagship programme EMBED. This collaboration has been a successful model of private-public intervention to curb the malaria burden, in line with India's larger objective of becoming a Malaria-Free nation by 2030.

The EMBED programme successfully tackled the challenge of navigating the community's beliefs on malaria and dengue, with the aim of improving knowledge and behaviour towards preventable mosquito-borne diseases. Through collaboration with local authorities and non-profit partners, the team visited every household in villages to educate them on prevention measures, utilizing platforms such as community meets and village nutrition days and communication mediums like street play to spread awareness. The ultimate goal was to enable community action towards preventing, treating, and controlling malaria and dengue at the household and community level.

• The joint efforts of the MP state government and the EMBED program have intervened in 45% of the most affected areas of the state, moving it from a category 3 to a category 1 state, making it one of the top ten states with the lowest number of malaria cases.

• The current malaria infection rate in Madhya Pradesh is below one case per 1,000 population, making it one of the world's fastest-declining malaria cases in the same period.

• In the last five years, there was an 89% drop in malaria cases. It also led to a positive impact on awareness and health-seeking behaviour among rural communities in Madhya Pradesh.

Dr Himanshu Jayswar, State Programme Officer VBDCP cum Deputy Director Health at Department of Public Health and Family Welfare, Madhya Pradesh, said, "The EMBED project, led by Family Health India and supported by Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, has been supporting the Government of Madhya Pradesh in eliminating malaria from the state. The project has actively engaged with the community and trained grassroots health workers. The project has also developed a malaria treatment application utilized by ASHA and ANM workers in all districts of Madhya Pradesh. It is hoped that the EMBED project will continue to expand to other malaria-affected districts to eliminate malaria and prevent and control dengue.”

EMBED's success in the region has been driven by the commitment of the communities involved, with 92% of households actively taking measures to keep their homes and surroundings clean, ensuring there are no mosquito breeding spaces. Furthermore, 91% of the community utilizes preventive measures throughout the year or during peak mosquito seasons (monsoon and summer). The team have recently developed an app for Malaria treatment, which is being used by the Health departments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, especially by ASHA workers, ANMs and RHCPs.

Speaking about the initiative, Gayatri Divecha, Head CSR & Sustainability, Godrej Industries and Associate Companies, said, “EMBED's success lies in the impact it has managed to bring about in Madhya Pradesh, a remarkable 89% decrease in Malaria morbidity. Through the EMBED programme, we are extending our support to the government’s vision with a larger aim to create a high-impact, community-led model to curb mosquito-borne diseases. We are proud of the impact this association has made in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, and we remain dedicated to expanding our efforts to reach more communities in need.”

“EMBED program has successfully established a scalable model that can aid high-burden villages in achieving the goal of eliminating malaria in India by 2030. Their unwavering commitment in Madhya Pradesh is a testament to their dedication to making India free of malaria. We are committed to expanding this program across newer Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh geographies. We aim to cover more than 1300 villages across four states and impact the lives of over 11 million people,” she added.

EMBED has been implemented in nine Madhya Pradesh districts, four Uttar Pradesh districts and two Chhattisgarh districts, reaching over 9 million people across 2,000+ villages. The success has been driven by the commitment of the communities involved, with 92% of households actively taking measures to keep their homes and surroundings clean. Godrej has further launched Goodknight Mini Liquid and HIT No-Gas Spray, making safe, effective, and affordable household repellents to safeguard citizens accessible to low-income groups. The company is committed to expanding this program across newer geographies in Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and achieving the goal of eliminating malaria in India by 2030.

“With funding support from Godrej Consumer Products Limited, Family Health India (FH India) has supported the State Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, the Government of Madhya Pradesh, in its goal of eliminating malaria by 2030. The behaviour change communication tools and online training module have been adopted by the State and scaled across all districts in Madhya Pradesh. We are proud of our partnership with Godrej and the Department of Public Health and Family Welfare, Government of Madhya Pradesh and continue striving towards the malaria elimination goal in the State,” added Dr Bitra George, Director, Family Health India.

Suggest Correction