The efforts of the Odisha Government in eradicating malaria has been appreciated by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
A latest report of the WHO lauded the move of the State Government resulting in sharp reduction in malaria cases and mortality due to the killer disease.
The report says that while since 2000, India has made major inroads in reducing the toll of malaria but the path towards elimination has proven a challenge in the eastern State of Odisha, which carries more than 40 per cent of the country’s malaria burden.
In recent years, the State Government has dramatically scaled up efforts to prevent, diagnose and treat malaria with impressive results seen in a short span of time.
The work follows the recommendations of the WHO Global Technical Strategy for malaria which calls for early case detection, prompt treatment and widespread use of mosquito-control measures.
India’s goal of eliminating malaria by 2030 may appear at first glance to be easily attainable.
Reported cases of the disease dropped by around half between 2001 and 2016 and, in nearly three-quarters of India’s more than 650 districts, the number of people falling ill from malaria is very low.
But India’s path towards elimination has proven to be particularly difficult in the remote and rugged tribal areas of the country’s north-east region and in Odisha in the east.
“Making advances against malaria in these areas is crucial, considering they represent the majority of the country’s malaria burden,” said WHO representative in India Dr Henk Bekedam.
Dr Bekedam said that the numbers testify to the impact of their collective efforts.
In Odisha, the State with the greatest malaria burden in India, there were an estimated 2,95 000 reported cases from July through December 2016 – 56 of them fatal.
During December, 2017, the number of cases had fallen by nearly 50 per cent, to approximately 1,56, 000; fatalities fell by more than two thirds, to 16 deaths.