The government is steadfast in its commitment to achieving a “malaria-free India,” Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Anupriya Patel, said on Friday while marking World Malaria Day.
Observed annually on April 25 to raise awareness about the disease, this year’s theme—“Malaria Ends with Us: Reinvest, Reimagine, Reignite”—aims to re-energize efforts at every level, from global policymaking to grassroots action, to accelerate progress toward malaria elimination.
“On the occasion of World Malaria Day, it is our collective responsibility to spread awareness about a deadly disease like malaria and make concerted efforts to eradicate it,” Patel said in a post on X.
“The Government of India is continuously working towards the goal of ‘Malaria-Free India.’ Let us all come together to make this campaign a success,” she added.
Malaria is a life-threatening disease transmitted to humans by female Anopheles mosquitoes. However, it is both preventable and curable. India is working towards eliminating malaria by 2030, with a specific goal of achieving zero indigenous cases by 2027.
The latest World Malaria Report 2024, released by the World Health Organization (WHO) in December last year, shows that India has made major progress in malaria elimination, with a 69 percent drop in cases and a 68 percent reduction in deaths between 2017 and 2023. Contributing just 0.8 percent of global cases in 2023, India also exited the WHO’s High Burden to High Impact (HBHI) group in 2024, marking a significant public health achievement.
“Every year, millions of people are affected by malaria, even though it is a preventable and curable disease,” Patel said.
To prevent the disease, she urged people to “maintain cleanliness, protect yourself from mosquitoes, wear full-sleeve clothes, use mosquito nets and repellents, and get yourself checked immediately if you have a fever.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2.2 billion cases of malaria and 12.7 million deaths from the disease have been prevented globally since 2000. To date, 45 countries and one territory have been declared malaria-free, while several countries with a low malaria burden are steadily moving closer to elimination. Of the 83 malaria-endemic countries still in the fight, 25 reported fewer than 10 cases of malaria in 2023.
Despite significant gains, malaria remains a major public health challenge, with nearly 600,000 lives lost to the disease in 2023 alone. The African Region is hardest hit, shouldering an estimated 95 percent of the malaria burden each year.
-IANS
