Malaria deaths in the country have reduced by half in the past 15 years to around 500 annually while the total cases have come down by one-third to 11 lakh during the same period, a senior government official said today.
Dr Avdhesh Kumar, Additional Director of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), said recent compiled figures showed that 506 malaria deaths were reported in the country in 2012.
"This figure is exactly half of 1,010 deaths reported in 1996," he said at a function organised here by an NGO Caritas India on the occasion of World Malaria Day.
Similarly, he said, with around 11 lakh malaria cases reported in the country in 2012, total number of such cases have reduced to one-third from around 30 lakh during the corresponding period.
NVBDCP is the nodal agency of central government meant to prevent and control vector borne diseases, including dengue, chikungunya, Japanese encephalitis, lymphatic filariasis, kala-azar and malaria.
Kumar said significant decrease in malaria deaths and total cases was made possible due to intensive prevention and treatment schemes.
Instead of only controlling the disease, he said, efforts would be soon initiated with an approach to eliminate it completely.
India lies at 18th position globally as far as the number of cases was concerned and occupies 21st slot in terms of malaria deaths, he said.
Among those who participated in the event were Dr Leonard Ortega (Regional Advisor of South East Asia Regional Office of WHO), Dr A C Dhariwal (Director of NVBDCP) and Father Frederick D Souza (Executive Director of Caritas India).
Ortega lauded the effort of trained civil society volunteers for their contribution in curbing malaria by 35 per cent in South East Asia in the last eleven years.
Dhariwal, meanwhile, put emphasis on the decrease in malaria cases in otherwise highly prone North-Eastern states.
"The total number of malaria cases have come down from 1,72,891 in 2010 to 1,09,856 in 2011," Dr Dhariwal said, referring to North-Eastern states. "The deaths have also declined from 290 in 2010 to 124 in 2011 with increased community awareness and participation."
D'Souza said reduction of disease burden could be achieved through collective commitment and convergence of efforts by all stakeholders, including the community and the civil society, public sector and donors.
