SafePoint Trust Launches Injection Safety Awareness Campaign

[Guest guest]

http://www.expresshealthcaremgmt.com/200812/market08.shtml

SafePoint Trust Launches Injection Safety Awareness Campaign

With a budget of 7,00,000 Euros or 4.20 crore, the campaign will utilise media

in an intensive manner

SafePoint trust, a UK based charity, launched a week-long campaign recently

across 14 cities in India to raise awareness about dangers of unsafe injections.

" At a country level, nearly two third of the injections were administered in an

unsafe manner and of all the injections administered in India, one third carried

a potential risk of transmitting Blood Borne Virus, " says Dr Narendra K Arora,

Principal Investigator and Project Coordinator, Assessment of Injection

Practices in India (a joint study conducted by IndiaCLEN Programme Evaluation

Network on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Government of India and World Bank

in 2002-2005.)

With a budget of 7,00,000 Euros or 4.20 crore, the campaign will utilise media

in an intensive manner. A three-minute film, three to four times a day, will

play in over 300 cinema halls across the country. A television commercial film

of one minute and thirty seconds will also be broadcast on the leading channels.

This is the moving story, narrated by Dr Kiran Bedi, about Sachin - the little

boy who contracts HIV through the reuse of a syringe by his doctor. In radio

too, over 160 primary stations have been booked to spread public service

announcements (voiced by Dr Kiran Bedi).

Speaking on the occasion, Marc Koska, Founder of the SafePoint Trust, remarked,

" Since inception we have been guided by a single-minded vision to free this

world of unsafe injections. The aim of this campaign is to give the next

generation a chance, empower them, give them a voice and ensure that all

injections are administered safely. Startling facts from the World Health

Organisation reveal that more than 50 per cent of all injections in the

developing world are unsafe which would mean that they are performed with reused

or unsterile equipment.

Each and every year due to unsafe injections WHO estimates: 230000 HIV

Infections, 1,000,000 Hepatitis C Infections, 21,000,000 Hepatitis B Infections

and 1,300,000 deaths occur. " Hence we must make every attempt to lobby with

authorities to change legislation to prevent syringe reuse and enforce safe

injection guidelines. It is a daunting task as the conditions are quite bad and

need immediate attention. We will be also be networking with key NGOs, social

workers etc, to raise the awareness levels. It will be handled on a pan-India

basis, " he added.

Speaking on the considerable improvements made by the government, Dr Arora

added, " Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India decided to

introduce auto-disabled syringes in the immunisation programme in all the states

of the country since 2005, but in the curative side nothing much has changed. We

have a long way to go. "

EH News Bureau

[Guest guest]

http://www.expresshealthcaremgmt.com/200812/market08.shtml

SafePoint Trust Launches Injection Safety Awareness Campaign

With a budget of 7,00,000 Euros or 4.20 crore, the campaign will utilise media

in an intensive manner

SafePoint trust, a UK based charity, launched a week-long campaign recently

across 14 cities in India to raise awareness about dangers of unsafe injections.

" At a country level, nearly two third of the injections were administered in an

unsafe manner and of all the injections administered in India, one third carried

a potential risk of transmitting Blood Borne Virus, " says Dr Narendra K Arora,

Principal Investigator and Project Coordinator, Assessment of Injection

Practices in India (a joint study conducted by IndiaCLEN Programme Evaluation

Network on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Government of India and World Bank

in 2002-2005.)

With a budget of 7,00,000 Euros or 4.20 crore, the campaign will utilise media

in an intensive manner. A three-minute film, three to four times a day, will

play in over 300 cinema halls across the country. A television commercial film

of one minute and thirty seconds will also be broadcast on the leading channels.

This is the moving story, narrated by Dr Kiran Bedi, about Sachin - the little

boy who contracts HIV through the reuse of a syringe by his doctor. In radio

too, over 160 primary stations have been booked to spread public service

announcements (voiced by Dr Kiran Bedi).

Speaking on the occasion, Marc Koska, Founder of the SafePoint Trust, remarked,

" Since inception we have been guided by a single-minded vision to free this

world of unsafe injections. The aim of this campaign is to give the next

generation a chance, empower them, give them a voice and ensure that all

injections are administered safely. Startling facts from the World Health

Organisation reveal that more than 50 per cent of all injections in the

developing world are unsafe which would mean that they are performed with reused

or unsterile equipment.

Each and every year due to unsafe injections WHO estimates: 230000 HIV

Infections, 1,000,000 Hepatitis C Infections, 21,000,000 Hepatitis B Infections

and 1,300,000 deaths occur. " Hence we must make every attempt to lobby with

authorities to change legislation to prevent syringe reuse and enforce safe

injection guidelines. It is a daunting task as the conditions are quite bad and

need immediate attention. We will be also be networking with key NGOs, social

workers etc, to raise the awareness levels. It will be handled on a pan-India

basis, " he added.

Speaking on the considerable improvements made by the government, Dr Arora

added, " Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India decided to

introduce auto-disabled syringes in the immunisation programme in all the states

of the country since 2005, but in the curative side nothing much has changed. We

have a long way to go. "

EH News Bureau