17 June 2002 keralamonitor.com

India bids for 2010 Olympics

The first meeting of the Committee constituted to pursue India’s bid for the Olympics, 2012 will be held here tomorrow.The Committee constituted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is headed by Sushree Uma Bharati, Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports. It has five Members and the Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Shri S.S.Sharma, is the Member Secretary . The Members of the Committee are Shri Pon. RadhaKrishnan, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, Shri Vijay Kapoor, Lt. Governor, Delhi, Shri Suresh Kalmadi, President, Indian Olympic Association, Raja Randhir Singh, Secretary General , Indian Olympic Association and Shri Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Member of Parliament.

States urged to increase Thrust on Irrigation Projects

The Union Minister of State for Water Resources, Smt. Bijoya Chakravarty called upon the State Governments to give thrust to irrigation programmes for the development of the economy. Inaugurating a one-day Conference of State Secretaries in charge of Command Area Development Programme here today, the Minister pointed out the need for steady implementation of the projects for better results at farm level; especially in the North-Eastern region.

Shri Sompal, Member (Agriculture), Planning Commission who was the Chief Guest of the function, underlined the need for strengthening the agriculture sector as the main base for economic growth. Emphasizing the need for providing a fillip to minor irrigation programmes. Shri Sompal pointed out that the economic activity developed in rural areas would alone show the overall development of the economy.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri B. N. Navalawala, Secretary, Water Resources expressed concern at the wide gap between the created irrigation potential and its utilisation in a number of commands, despite taking up infrastructural development at macro level and innovative management activities in the project commands through Command Area Development Programme by the Ministry. He suggested participatory irrigation management as a more practical and long term solution for proper maintenance of irrigation system and for sustenance of the irrigation sector as a whole. It may also be considered to seek a minimum 10 per cent contribution from beneficiary farmers in the On Farm Development (OFD) work, such as field channels and reclamation of water logged areas in the tenth plan, the secretary said. The state governments were asked to submit their proposals for release of matching central grants for various irrigation projects in the states well in time to avoid time and cost over runs.

The conference of the state secretaries in charge of Command Area Development Programme was convened mainly to review the progress of CAD programme, besides, fixing of target of 10th Plan. The Conference would also suggest proposals for restructuring of CAD programme during 10th Plan and involvement of beneficiaries in the construction and maintenance of OFD works. The other issues which are to be taken up by the Conference for consideration include provision for linkage of the field drains with intermediate and main drains for letting out surplus water; inclusion of minor irrigation projects under CAD programmes ; allocation of funds for schemes for 10th Plan ; revision of cost norms etc

New Therapy for 'Black Fever Is 95% Effective

India licenses the first oral drug for visceral leishmaniasis, a lethal
disease of poverty.

Scientists have developed a new treatment for the 500,000 people who
develop visceral leishmaniasis each year, a disease also known as "black
fever" and "kala azar." The new drug, miltefosine (Impavido®), could save
most of the 60,000 who die from the disease every year. Miltefosine is
likely to cost less and is much easier to deliver than all current
therapies. In clinical trials, it cured 95% of treated patients.

Miltefosine is the first oral drug against leishmaniasis. It moved from
the laboratory bench through to registration in six years (most medicines
can take as long as twice that time) thanks to a collaboration between the
Government of India, the drug's manufacturer, German biopharmaceutical
company Zentaris, and TDR (Tropical Diseases Research), a program
cosponsored by the World Bank, the U.N. Development Programme and the
World Health Organization. Miltefosine has now been approved for use in
India, which has 50% of the global burden of visceral leishmaniasis. With
this drug, the Government of India hopes to reach its goal of eliminating
visceral leishmaniasis by 2010.

Leishmaniasis is one of the Neglected Diseases that have become a special
focus at WHO. These are diseases which afflict the world's poorest people.
About 80% of the victims of leishmaniasis, for example, earn less than $2
a day. Yet neglected diseases receive relatively little funding or public
attention.

"This is fantastic progress," says WHO Director-General Gro Harlem
Brundtland. "We now have a powerful new tool to fight this terrible
disease. The combined efforts of these partners have opened a new era in
the fight against visceral leishmaniasis. In doing so, we can free the
poor from one of their many burdens."

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease which is transmitted through the bite
of the tiny and silent sandfly. The disease is found in parts of 88
countries. While the 350 million people living in those areas are the most
vulnerable, others at risk include people travelling through these areas
such as adventure vacationers, missionaries, development workers, and
soldiers.

The regions where leishmaniasis is endemic have expanded significantly
since 1993. Mass population movements are fuelling the growing epidemic.
Major outbreaks in Brazil, for example, were triggered by large migrations
of rural families into the suburbs of the country's largest cities. An
outbreak in Sudan killed 100,000 in an area with a population of less than
one million. More recently, co-infections of HIV and leishmaniasis are
becoming more common. The interaction of the two diseases makes each more
destructive -- accelerating the onset of AIDS and shortening the life
expectancy of HIV-infected people.

The infection can take one of four major forms but the most deadly is
visceral leishmaniasis and that is the type of leishmaniasis the new
treatment targets. Visceral leishmaniasis attacks the liver and spleen,
causing irregular bouts of fever and substantial weight loss. In
developing countries where patients generally have poor nutrition and
compromised immune function, it is 100% fatal without treatment. Ninety
percent of all cases occur in five countries: India, which has the
greatest burden of the disease, Bangladesh, Brazil, Nepal and Sudan.

Until now, all treatments for the disease have had substantial drawbacks.
Some are toxic and can cause permanent, irreversible damage such as
diabetes. Up to 60% of cases in India are now resistant to the first line
drug. Other drugs trigger dangerous reactions that can be lethal in about
9% of treated patients. Some treatments require injections while others
need to be provided intravenously over a period of 15 to 30 days in a
hospital. And all are so expensive that most of the people infected are
unable to afford them.

Now comes miltefosine. The drug is the fruit of a collaboration between
the German biopharmaceutical company Zentaris and the Tropical Disease
Research programme, a programme co-sponsored by the World Bank, UNDP and
WHO. The company, then part of ASTA Medica, originally developed the
compound to fight breast cancer, but a TDR-sponsored scientist assigned to
screen new compounds discovered that it also had an effect on the
leishmania parasite while German scientists demonstrated the oral
activity. With financial and administrative support from TDR and official
cooperation from the Government of India, clinical trials conforming to
international regulatory best practice were launched with Zentaris as a
sponsor. The drug proved to be highly effective and safe and was approved
by Indian authorities in March this year. A price has not been set, but is
likely to be considerably cheaper than current treatments.

No drug is without some side effects and miltefosine also has its own,
though they are less severe than current treatments for visceral
leishmaniasis. The drug can induce vomiting but this does not occur
immediately after taking the drug and the vomiting is not strong and
usually limited to a few days. Due to a potential danger to developing
foetuses, care must be taken when administering the drug to women of
child-bearing age. Data in some laboratory animals also hint that
miltefosine may have an impact on the reproductive health of men. So far
clinical studies have demonstrated that this is not an issue, but this,
along with other properties of the drug, will be further monitored in
Phase 4 studies that will get under way in India in July. The phase 4
studies will be designed primarily to assess how well the drug performs in
a real life situations and hence its potential long term impact on the
control of leishmaniasis. They are also evaluated in parallel to the Phase
4 trail of miltefosine in India.

Researchers hope the future will bring better methods of diagnosing
visceral leishmaniasis without expensive lab equipment. In many tropical
settings, the high fever brought on by the disease is easily confused with
malaria. An easy to use test, which could be applied near the home, would
greatly facilitate visceral leishmaniasis control. Trials, supported by
TDR, of such diagnostic kits are now under way in Ethiopia, Kenya and
Sudan. (keralamonitor.com)