Malaria: India
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Incidence of Malaria
2016
4,443 malaria cases in Mewat since June – Sept 2016
A mid the din and hurt sentiments that the Haryana government's biryani policing generated in Mewat, a malaria threat sweeping through the district has gone virtually unnoticed and, going by the government's own figures, unchecked.
Since June, Mewat has recorded 4,443 cases of malaria, which accounts for two-thirds of the 6,695 cases reported across Haryana.Around 90% of the posts in Mewat's health department lying vacant. “The reason why we are unable to tackle this menace is because there are hardly any medical resources,“ said a health department official.
2017: cases decline by 24%
From: Sushmi Dey, India closer to malaria-free tag, cases dip by 24% in a yr, November 20, 2018: The Times of India
3 Million Fewer Cases Between 2016 And 2017
Marking significant progress in the fight against malaria, India recorded nearly 24% decline in cases in a year between 2016 and 2017, the only one among the 11 highest-burden countries to achieve so, says the latest World Malaria Report.
Deaths due to malaria have also dropped significantly to 194 in 2017 from 331 in the previous year, says the 2018 report. However, with 4% of global cases, India continues to account for the highest malaria burden outside sub-Saharan Africa.
“The 10 highest burden countries in Africa reported increase in cases of malaria in 2017 compared with 2016. Of these, Nigeria, Madagascar and Democratic Republic of Congo had the highest estimated increase, all more than half a million cases. In contrast, India reported 3 million fewer cases in the same period, a 24% decrease compared with 2016,” says the World Health Organisation report.
India plans to eliminate malaria by 2027, three years ahead of the global target and has also formulated an action plan.
According to latest figures available with the health ministry’s National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, till September this year, 2,76,488 cases of malaria were reported in the country, whereas mortality declined to double digit at 29 deaths till two months ago.
Globally, there were an estimated 219 million cases of malaria in 2017, whereas deaths reached 4,35,000 in the same year. In India, three states — Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, which account for a major burden of malaria cases — reported a substantial decrease.
2019: decline
December 3, 2020: The Times of India
WHO: Sharp dip in malaria cases in India in 2019
New Delhi:
India has made considerable progress in reducing its malaria burden and is the only high endemic country to have reported a decline of 17.6% in cases during 2019 as compared to the previous year, says the World Malaria Report 2020 by World Health Organisation. India also witnesses the largest absolute decline in WHO’s South-East Asia region, though it still accounted for 88% of malaria cases and 86% of related deaths in the region. In India, between 2000 and 2019, malaria cases dropped by over 83% to around 3.38 lakh, whereas deaths declined by 92%. Cases and fatalities have declined a significant 21.3% and 20%, respectively, in 2019 from a year ago. TNN
Malaria cases till Oct fell by 45% against last year’s count
Total number of malaria cases reported till October this year fell 45% year-on-year, the government said. States like Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and MP together accounted for nearly 45.4% of total malaria cases in the country in 2019. They were also responsible for 63.6% malaria deaths.
The government intensified malaria elimination efforts with the launch of the National Framework for Malaria Elimination in 2016. It was followed by the national strategic plan for malaria elimination (2017-22), launched by health ministry in July 2017, which laid down strategies for next five years.
In 2019, global malaria cases stood at 229 million, an estimate that has remained unchanged over the last four years. The deaths from the disease have dropped slightly to around 4.09 lakh in 2019 compared to 4.11 lakh in 2018.
Judicial judgments
Death by mosquito is not insurable: SC
Krishnadas Rajagopal, March 26, 2019: The Hindu
National Insurance Limited argued that a mosquito bite cannot be classified as a ‘personal accident’ covered under the policy.
Is death by mosquito bite insurable as a ‘personal accident’? Well, not if the mosquito bit the insured person in the Republic of Mozambique, the Supreme Court held on Tuesday in a judgment.
The case concerns the death of a man, Debhashis Bhattacharjee, who died of multiple organ failure after being diagnosed with encephalitis malaria contracted from a mosquito bite he sustained while working in Mozambique in 2012.
His insurance policy covered personal accidents. Both the State and the National Consumer Dipsutes Redressal Commissions dismissed the plea made by the insurance company, National Insurance Limited, that the man died as a result of an infection. The company had argued that a mosquito bite cannot be classified as a ‘personal accident’ covered under the policy.
The insurance company, represented by advocate Madhavi Divan, said death due to malaria was a common occurrence in Mozambique. Ms Divan adverted to the World Health Organization’s World Malaria Report 2018, which showed that an estimated ten million cases of malaria in Mozambique and an estimated 14.7 thousand deaths in the year 2017.
A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud disagreed with the conclusions of both the Consumer Disputes Commissions. In fact, the State Commission had held that it would be “rather silly” to call a sudden death due to mosquito bite in a foreign land a natural death and not an accident. The National Commission too had agreed that if the insurance company could cover events like snake bite, frost bite and dog bite then why not mosquito bites.
In his 16-page judgment, Justice Chandrachud acknowledged that being “bitten by a mosquito is an unforeseen eventuality”.
However, the mosquito bit Mr. Bhatacharjee in Mozambique, which according to World Health Organization has a population of 29.6 million people and accounts for five per cent of the cases of malaria globally.
Malaria is too common in Mozambique. “It is on record that one out of three people in Mozambique is afflicted with malaria. In light of these statistics, the illness of encephalitis malaria through a mosquito bite cannot be considered as an accident. It was neither unexpected nor unforeseen. It was not a peril insured against in the policy of accident insurance,” Justice Chandrachud set aside the decisions of the Consumer Disputes Commission.
Vivax: Changes and increase
2011-15
The Times of India, Jul 31 2015
`Malaria's P. vivax strain threat to India'
Sushmi Dey
A particular strain of malaria parasite, which was believed to be less fatal, is now causing high disease burden, latest assessment by the World Health Organization shows.
While asking India to strengthen its strategy for elimination of malaria, the agency said countries need to focus more on P.vivax, which was so far known as less fatal but as the latest data shows the risk from the parasite is increasing.
India, in particular has witnessed a huge growth in the number of malaria cases due to P.vivax. In 2013, there were an estimated 15.8 million symptomatic cases of P.vivax malaria globally . Out of this, two-thirds occurred in the south-east Asia region which includes India, according to a latest WHO report on control and elimination of P.vivax malaria.
Though, the report doesn't provide specific number of P.vivax cases found in India, WHO said in a statement that India is a major contributor to the cases found in south-east Asia.
Separately , the Union health ministry's assessment under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme shows that there is a slight dip in the malaria cases due to P. falciparum parasite, known to be more fatal. According to a health ministry official, over 50% of total malaria cases in India are triggered by P.vivax. “Our efforts so far focused on the most deadly P.falciparum malaria. We need to now broaden our strategy to include targeted interventions for P.vivax malaria, which is contributing to a large proportion of global malaria burden, mainly in the WHO south-east Asia region,“ said WHO regional director Poonam Khetrapal Singh. WHO is hosting a global malaria meet in New Delhi to address the rising threat of P.vivax.
