The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday officially unveiled the 'Malaria Elimination Research Alliance' (MERA), a conglomeration of partners — mostly research organisations working on malaria control — in order to prioritise, plan, conduct and scale up relevant research.
Over the last two decades, India has made impressive progress on malaria control. While cases have declined by over 80 per cent (from 2.03 million cases in 2000 to 0.39 million in 2018), deaths caused by malaria also went from 932 in 2000 to 85 in 2018 (over 90 per cent). This foundation means the government's commitment to eliminate malaria by 2030 is on solid ground.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), in its latest malaria disease burden report, has acknowledged the progress made by India. In 2017, as compared to 2016, there was a 24 per cent reduction in cases, the WHO said. However, it also noted India is among the 11 countries that contribute 70 per cent to the world's malaria burden, the other 10 being in sub-Saharan Africa. "These high-burden nations are home to an estimated 151 million cases of malaria and 2,75,000 deaths," the report said, adding that in 2018 alone, 3,99,134 cases were reported in India.
"The MERA India alliance is very important because of its operational research. WHO appreciated our research for decline in malaria, but we need to ensure its elimination by 2030," said Preeti Sudan, secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Sudan also focussed on the need to inform the people about protective measures, and suggested the use of small video clips that can be shared via mass media.
PROGRESS MADE
Malaria cases have declined by over 80 per cent (from .03 million cases in 2000 to 0.39 million in 2018), while deaths also went from 932 in 2000 to 85 in 2018 (a drop of over 90 per cent)
