NEW DELHI:
Even as global efforts to fight malaria seemed to have hit a plateau in 2017 compared to the previous year, latest World Health Organisation (WHO) report showed India as the top country marking maximum progress in reducing cases among the 11 highest burden countries. In 2017, India, which represents 4 per cent % of the global malaria burden, recorded a 24 per cent reduction in cases in 2017 compared to 2016. Worldwide, there were an estimated 219 million cases of malaria in 2017, compared to 217 million the year before.
WHO World Malaria Report 2018 showed India as the only high-burden country moving in a positive direction, and with Odisha emerging as the best-performing state in its fight against malaria. According to the report, malaria cases declined sharply from 3,23,800 in 2017 (January-September) to 55,365 in 2018 for the same duration, along with a drop in deaths to single digits in Odisha.
“Through innovations, such as improving healthcare worker skills, expanding access to diagnostics and treatment and strengthening data collection, Odisha is doing what it takes to fight this preventable but deadly disease,” it said in a statement.
Despite the progress made in the past few years, the WHO report, however, suggests that 1.25 billion Indians still remain at the risk of getting diagnosed with malaria.
In China and El Salvador, where malaria had long been endemic, no local transmission of malaria was reported in 2017, proof that intensive, country-led control efforts can succeed in reducing the risk people face from the disease, said the report.
WHO data revealed approximately 70 per cent of the world’s malaria cases burden is concentrated in 11 countries — 10 in sub-Saharan Africa (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda and United Republic of Tanzania) and India. In 2017, 151 million malaria cases and 2,74,000 death cases were reported in these 11 countries.
The report noted the number of countries nearing continuous elimination grew to 46 in 2017 from 37 in 2010.
Meanwhile, in 2018, WHO certified Paraguay as malaria-free, becoming the first country in the American continent to receive this status in 45 years. Three other countries Algeria, Argentina and Uzbekistan – have requested official malaria-free certification from WHO.
