Malaria cases witness 23% drop in 2017, efforts to eradicate disease by 2030 on: Govt

New Delhi: As per the World Malaria Report 2017 of World Health Organization (WHO), the estimated malaria cases from India are 87 percent in South East Asia region. The estimation of the malaria cases is based on mathematical modelling and projected cases of malaria are not the actual cases reported in the country.

Major contribution is by India because of its population. Malaria is mainly concentrated in the states of Orissa, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura because of the inaccessible terrain – many areas get cut off post monsoon, presence of efficient vectors – mosquito that transmit malaria and difficult terrain because of which malaria continues to be high in many pockets. However, in the year 2017, reported malaria cases have declined by 23 percent as compared to 2016 and the incidence of malaria in India is 0.66 cases per one thousand population (2017).

Global technical strategy (2016-30) announced by WHO and adopted by World Health Assembly in May 2015 call for malaria elimination by 2030.

As per the Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), Mr Ashwini Kumar Choubey, the government has unveiled a plan to eliminate Malaria by 2030. The National Framework for Malaria Elimination (NFME) 2016-2030 document launched on 11th February 2016, lays out the vision, mission, broad principles and practices to achieve the target of malaria elimination by 2030 synchronizing with the Global Technical Strategy (GTS) for Malaria 2016-2030 of World Health Organisation (WHO).

The government has drafted National Strategic Plan for malaria elimination (2017-2020) wherein the country has been stratified based on the malaria burden into four categories, category 0 to category 3 and based on this the intervention of malaria control and prevention are being strengthened.

Interventions that are being strengthened are early diagnosis and complete treatment, case-based surveillance and rapid response, integrated vector management, Indoor Residual Spray (IRS), Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs)/ Insecticide-treated Nets (ITNs) and Larval Source Management (LSM).