Kidney Disease in Uddanam : గత ప్రభుత్వ హయాంలో ఉద్దానం కిడ్నీ బాధితులకు వైద్యం గాలిలో దీపంలా మారింది. అందనంత దూరంలో ఉన్న ప్రభుత్వ ఆసుపత్రులకు వెళ్లేందుకు ప్రజలు నానా అవస్థలు పడాల్సి వచ్చింది. ఇప్పుడు కూటమి ప్రభుత్వం దీనిపై దృష్టి సారించింది.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Srikakulam district, Uddanam district has been suffering from kidney disease for the past 10 years.
00:07To find out the root cause of kidney disease,
00:11the research center was set up with 5.5 crores from the government.
00:16All the people from George Institute came here and did the research.
00:18In the last 5 years, the government was unable to provide proper facilities for the research center.
00:24Again, the government came to buy the research center.
00:27We have a representative from Columbia who will tell us more about the research.
00:37Kidney patients are increasing in Uddanam area day by day.
00:41The government is also trying to reduce this.
00:43The government is providing a lot of money for research.
00:46So, what will be your research and how are you going to explain?
00:49My own role, I arrived here on Saturday evening with several boxes of equipment from the US.
00:55And the equipment that you can see here behind is intended to help the team here from the George Institute
01:01measure, essentially collect samples of drinking water, of soil, of dust,
01:07to try to understand whether the composition, the chemical content,
01:10it could be metals like lead which are toxic or pesticides like glyphosate or paraquat or others,
01:17whether those concentrations are particularly high.
01:20And if they are particularly high, could that be also in the case of the people recruited as part of this cohort study
01:27who have more of the illness.
01:28So, we are trying to establish a correlation between the environment and the disease.
01:32It's a difficult thing to do because there are probably many factors that contribute to the disease,
01:37including genetic factors, but we are starting this here in a systematic way.
01:42Have you done the similar research before?
01:45I did go on two previous trips.
01:47The study conducted in Andhra Pradesh in India is actually part of a consortium
01:51sponsored by the US National Institute of Health.
01:54And there are five Central American countries, and so far I've been also to El Salvador, Costa Rica,
02:00with a similar team conducting a study.
02:02So, we're hoping that by studying it in multiple countries,
02:05we will come more quickly at the answer and hopefully some solutions to reduce the occurrence of this disease.
02:11How long this research will last?
02:13Well, it started several years ago with the planning, and first the writing of the proposal.
02:18That's probably five years ago.
02:19Then the planning, especially if you have a multi-country study that takes a lot of time.
02:24I expect it's at least five to ten years in the future.
02:27That's what I'm hoping.
02:28What kind of technology is being used in this research?
02:32I'm a fan of simple measurements with field kits.
02:36So, we measure things like nitrate in the water.
02:39We test E. coli as a surface to the participants to find out whether their water is microbially clean or not.
02:46But at the same time, back in the US, at Duke University in particular,
02:50some of these pest water samples will be analyzed by very sophisticated methods.
02:55A few years back, George Institute's team also researched this area.
03:00They did some research and they have some primary information.
03:03Did you have the details? If you have the details, you go to further very easily, right?
03:08I'm not aware of any result that says this is the culprit.
03:12This is what we have to avoid doing.
03:14It's probably a combination of factors and that makes it difficult.
03:17And that's why I'm afraid it's going to take another five to ten years to really come closer to the answer.
03:23What kind of support do you get from local authorities and people representatives?
03:27So, I've been very impressed since I arrived, the way I've been received here in Palasa.
03:32The George Institute team is doing a wonderful job.
03:36We have collected our first samples from an official participant in the study.
03:40And the young woman was very welcoming and willing to work with us.
03:43She also showed us where she works at the cashew shelling factory.
03:49It's really been very, very exciting to do this important research with people who want to work with us.
04:06For more UN videos visit www.un.org