India reduces malaria caseload, deaths by 69% each from 2017 and 2023, says WHO report
India has finally managed to control malaria, reduce mortality and has gotten out of the High-Burden-High-Impact (HBHI) group of endemic countries, according to the World Malaria Report released on Wednesday.
FollowIndia has finally managed to control malaria, reduce mortality and has gotten out of the High-Burden-High-Impact (HBHI) group of endemic countries, according to the World Malaria Report released on Wednesday.
India reduced its malaria caseload by 69 per cent from 6.4 million in 2017 to 2 million in 2023. Similarly, the estimated malaria deaths registered a 69 per cent decrease from 11,100 to 3500 during the same period. Every year, the report serves as a vital tool to evaluate global progress and gaps in the fight against malaria. It provides a snapshot of efforts to control and eliminate the disease in 83 countries.
Sri Lanka was certified malaria-free in 2016.
The WHO World Malaria Report 2024 revealed that in 2023, the South-East Asia Region reported eight malaria-endemic countries accounting for four million cases, making up 1.5% of the global malaria burden. India alone contributed to half of the region's cases, followed by Indonesia with nearly one-third.
“India has made progress in reducing the malaria burden because of its multi-sectoral approach and political commitment to bring down the burden,” said Dr Daniel Madandi, Director of Global Malaria Programme, reported the Indian Express.
“It’s never as fast as we would like, and there are some worrying plateaus but the trends are still encouraging. Apart from India, countries like Liberia and Rwanda have seen huge drops in cases,” added Dr Arnaud Le Menach, lead author of this year’s report and head of the Strategic Information for Response unit within the WHO Global Malaria Programme.
The WHO’s High Burden to High Impact (HBHI) initiative, launched in 2018, supported malaria control in India until 2024. By then, India had exited the HBHI group due to significant progress.
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