Workshop to prevent public health emergencies held in Odisha

The objectives of the workshop were to review preparedness of district collectors led preparedness plans for response to public health emergencies

A two-day workshop on Preparedness and Response to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalopathy in the JE vulnerable district which are mostly in southern part of Odisha, was recently held in Koraput, Odisha. The workshop was inaugurated by Dr Pramod Kumar Meherda, Commissioner cum Secretary to Government of Odisha, Department of Health and Family Welfare.

The workshop was organised by Government of Odisha in collaboration with the UNICEF. The workshop was attended by Yumi Bae, Chief of Field Office (CFO), UNICEF Odisha; Dr Vivek Virendra Singh, Health Specialist, UNICEF Odisha; T Ao, Regional Divisional Commissioner (RDC), Southern division, Berhampur; Anupam Saha, District Collector Koraput; K Sudarshan Chakravarthy, District Collector Malkangiri; Rashmita Panda, District Collector Nabarangpur; Guha Poonam Tapas Kumar, District Collector Rayagada; Anjan Kumar Manik, District Collector Kalahandi; Dr JK Tripathy, Director Public Health (DPH); Dr Binod Kumar Mishra, Director Family Welfare (DFW); Dr Bijayeeni Mohapatra, Dean & Principal of Saheed Laxman Nayak (SLN) Medical College & Hospital, Koraput; Dr Madan Pradhan, Joint Director, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), National Health Mission (NHM), Odisha; Dr PK Sen, Director, NVBDCP, Government of India; Prof Jacob John, Professor Emeritus, Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore; Dr Kayla Laserson, Country Director, India, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta; representatives from National Centres for Disease Control (NCDC), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) institutes like the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC)-Bhubaneswar and Vector Control Research Centre (VCRC)-Puducherry; other senior state officials & district officials from Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Jajpur districts; representatives from UNICEF, WHO, and UNDP.

The objectives of the workshop were to review preparedness of district collectors led preparedness plans for response to public health emergencies like AES/JE/Acute Encephalopathy that occurred in Malkangiri in the year 2016, to formalise a state led consortium of state, national and global partners to respond to public health emergencies in Odisha and to integrate essential maternal and child health services in public health preparedness and response plans.

Development partners like UNICEF, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), AIIMS Bhubaneswar, and ICMR-RMRC are supporting the state government. During the workshop, K Sudarshan Chakravarthy, District Collector Malkangiri, shared his districts experience in response to the outbreak in 2016 and preparedness for future.

In his key note address, Dr Meherda said, “Strengthening Preparedness and Response capacity to address public health emergencies like the AES/JE/Acute Encephalopathy outbreak that occurred in Malkangiri district in 2016 is a priority for Odisha state. I am happy that during this workshop we have formalised a consortium of state, national, and global agencies like NCDC, ICMR, PHFI, CMC, Vellore, CDC, Atlanta, AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, with the support of UNICEF to prevent, detect and respond to public health emergencies due to the diseases like AES, JE and Acute Encephalopathy. Organisation of such a high level technical workshop at regional level and in a district in southern Odisha, shows the commitment of the state government for improving health systems capacity in Koraput region.”

Delivering his address, the RDC, Southern division, Berhampur, T Ao said, “Public health emergency like outbreaks of AES, JE, Acute Encephalopathy have multiple and complex determinants. Hence effective response for such emergencies requires multi-sectoral response led by the district collectors.”

Speaking at the event, Dr PK Sen, Director NVBDCP, Govt of India, said, “We are facing public health problem of AES including JE in different parts of the country including Odisha. Last year in this part of the state, we noticed acute brain diseases affecting small children. I congratulate the state for the aggressive steps being taken with multi stakeholder approach led by the state NVBDCP and actively supported by UNICEF. The Govt of India, NVBDCP is ready to provide all supports to the state as and when needed.”