World Malaria Report 2020

Context:

India has made considerable progress in reducing its malaria burden, as per the World Malaria Report 2020.

About:

• Cause by: Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites. The parasites are spread to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes, called“ malaria vectors.”
  • 5 parasite species cause malaria in humans, and these species – P. falciparum and P. vivax – pose the greatest threat.
• Symptoms: The first symptoms – fever, headache, and chills – may be mild and difficult to recognize as malaria.
• Transmission: In most cases, malaria is transmitted through the bites of female Anopheles mosquitoes.

Key-highlights of the Report

• The report is published by World Health Organisation
• India is the only high endemic country that has reported a decline of 17.6 percent in 2019 as compared to 2018 as far as malaria cases are concerned.
• The Annual Parasitic Incidence (API) reduced by 27.6 percent in 2018 as compared to 2017, and by 18.4 percent in 2019 as compared to 2018. India has sustained API less than one since the year 2012.
• India has also contributed to the largest drop in such cases region-wide, from approximately 20 million to about 6 million.
• The percentage drop in the malaria cases was 71.8 percent and deaths were 73.9 percent between 2000 to 2019.
• India achieved a reduction of 83.34 percent in malaria morbidity and 92 percent in malaria mortality between the year 2000 (20,31,790 cases, 932 deaths) and 2019 (3,38,494 cases, 77 deaths), thereby achieving Goal 6 of the Millennium Development Goals (50-75 percent decrease in case incidence between 2000 and 2019).

Government’s Malaria elimination efforts

• Malaria elimination efforts were initiated in the country in 2015 and intensified after the launch of the National Framework for Malaria Elimination (NFME) in 2016 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• The National Strategic Plan for Malaria Elimination (2017-22) was launched by the health ministry in July 2017