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Mahesh

03/12/23 08:01 AM IST

World Malaria Report

In News
  • The recently released World Malaria Report shows that the number of cases and deaths due to the mosquito-borne infection India have continued to decline.
Takeaways from the report
  • India saw a 30% decline in malaria cases and 34% decline in deaths in 2022 as compared to the previous year
  • Globally there were 5 million additional malaria cases in 2022 as compared to the previous year, totalling to 249 million
  • Of the 5 million additional cases, the highest 2.1 million was from Pakistan that had a flood in 2022
  • India accounted for 1.4% of total malaria cases in the world
  • India accounted for 1.4% of total malaria cases in the world
  • India’s downward trend was reflected in the larger WHO South East Asian region that remained on track to achieving the 2030 target of reducing cases and deaths by 90 per cent.
  • The number of malaria cases had dropped from 243 million to 233 million globally between 2000 and 2019.
  • The number of malaria deaths also remained higher than the pre-pandemic levels. There were 608,000 deaths reported in 2022 as compared to 576,000 cases in 2019.
  • The global malaria response has faced a growing number of threats, such as drug and insecticide resistance, humanitarian crises, resource constraints, climate change impacts and delays in programme implementation particularly in countries with a high burden of the disease.
Climate change & Malaria
  • The malaria parasite and mosquito are both extremely sensitive to temperature, humidity, and rainfall, leaving experts worried about expanding reach of the disease.
  • The report says that climate change can not only directly increase geographies for malaria spread, but also indirectly affect the impact of the disease by reducing access to healthcare facilities and timely treatment.
  • Climate change is likely to lead to an increase in temperatures, with newer areas especially in the Himalayan belt suitable for the spread of the disease.
  • High risk zones will also emerge in states that face very high rainfall periodically
  • Almost half of the five million additional malaria cases reported globally in 2022 — 2.1 million — were from Pakistan that witnessed an extreme flood.
  • The report said that the standing water after the floods became ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes and led to a five-fold increase in malaria cases in the country.
Challenges
  • While India is doing well when it comes to malaria, issues such as resistance may derail it from its target of elimination by 2030.
  • The biological threats include drug resistance, insecticide resistance, gene deletions in parasites which make diagnosis difficult.
  • Another challenge is vivax malaria, which accounts for over 40 per cent of malaria cases in India.
  • The vivax plasmodium is known to hide in the liver and cause recurrent infections.
  • To treat, a 14-day course of therapy has to be taken. Experts say the challenge with that is many do not complete the treatment and stop taking the drug once they feel better.
  • To achieve the malaria elimination target of 2030, there has to be emphasis on strengthening of surveillance as well as tailoring of malaria interventions at sub-national level which should be data driven.
  • In addition updating policies and adopting new tools as per national and sub-national need in line with WHO guidance is critical.
Source- Indian Express

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