Godrej Group Takes Initiative Against Malaria
‘A malaria free India’, the first of its kind initiative taken up by the Godrej Group in partnership with the Vector Control Research Center (VCRC), was held on 3rd August 2017 at Godrej ONE, Mumbai. The needs and merits of partnerships were discussed by the stakeholders i.e leaders from government, academics, the private sector and social & non-profit organisations for attaining a malaria-free India.
The core element of the initiative was a panel discussion on ‘Partnerships and collaborations towards achieving malaria-free India’. A Productive discussion the country’s current challenges, a few lessons, along with the advantages and limitations of partnerships, responsibilities and roles for various stakeholders and the next steps were discussed. It was an all star 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.
Malaria becoming most significant public health issue in India
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 its elimination among key thought leaders from the ecosystem.”
The gathering saw productive results on malaria elimination, such as Individual paper presentations by VCRN students on various aspects of vector borne diseases, a Godrej Consumer Products pilot project EMBED by Dr. Vikas Goswami.
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’.
Godrej Group for Malaria Free India
The event was a part of Godrej Group’s awareness platform, initiated with the vision to create facilities for impactful conversations about key issues of National significance. The platform would be continuing engaging with diverse stakeholders groups including academics, government, NGO’s, industry bodies, regulatory bodies, media and digital influencers on subjects that are socially relevant.