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Source– This post is based on the article “What the World Malaria Report says about India” published in “The Indian Express” on 3rd December 2023.
Why in the News?
According to the World Malaria Report 2023, released by WHO, malaria cases continue to dip in India despite an increasing trend globally.
What are the Key Highlights of the Report?
India Trend
1) Reduction in Malaria cases and Fatalities in 2022: India saw a decline of 30 per cent in malaria incidence and 34 per cent in mortality in 2022, compared to the previous year.
2) India accounted for 1.4% of total malaria cases in the world
3) Reasons for decline- Focus on primary healthcare in remote areas, digital data-backed surveillance, effective management of extreme weather events like cyclones, better preventive strategies, and point of care diagnostics have played crucial roles.
Global Trend
1) Globally, malaria cases have witnessed an increasing trend since the pandemic, rising by 5 million in 2022 to 249 million.
2) Of the 5 million additional cases, the highest 2.1 million was from Pakistan that had a flood in 2022
What are the Challenges for eliminating malaria?
1) Climate change- Climate change can not only directly increase geographies for malaria spread (with increasing temperature and extreme events like rainfall), but also indirectly affect the impact of the disease by reducing access to healthcare facilities and timely treatment.
2) Biological threats– Drug resistance, insecticide resistance, gene deletions in parasites which make diagnosis difficult.
3) Vivax malaria- Vivax plasmodium, known to hide in the liver and cause recurrent infections, accounts for over 40 per cent of malaria cases in India. It requires a 14-day treatment course which often is not completed.
What is Malaria?
1) It is a disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.
2) There are five kinds of malarial parasites — Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax (the commonest one), Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale, and Plasmodium knowlesi.
3) The first approved vaccine is RTS,S, also known as Mosquirix. The WHO recommends two malaria vaccines: RTS,S/AS01
and R21/Matrix-M
| For more information on Malaria Vaccine developments and India’s Malaria burden & Click Here to read |
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