Chennai: Even as the public continues to rue over the unchecked incidences of mosquito nuisance in Chennai, WHO on World Malaria Day gave hope for Tamil Nadu, pointing out that the state had recorded a drastic fall in the number of malaria cases in the past few years.
Based on the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), WHO recently reported that the number of cases in Tamil Nadu was down to 8,729 in 2014 from 22,171 in 2011.
Now, with the corporation and the public health department taking up initiatives to rid mosquitoes, the department is hoping to eliminate the disease from the state all together soon. According to a health official, malaria is a complex infection that depends on various factors, including climate change and migration, making it almost impossible to keep up to the changing face of the infection.
“However, owing to the efforts of the corporation officials to combat the disease, TN as a state has seen a progress,” he said. Though TN may have seen a fall in the disease, fear among the public remains as strong as before. “I have had cases of parents of very young children rushing to me each time their child develops a fever – enquiring if it is malaria. The disease needs to be eliminated soon,” stressed general physician Dr R. Krishnan.
“New laws should be implemented on vector control for the complete elimination of the disease. Many officials of the corporation consist of zoologists. The corporation should be open to taking in medical entomologists, who will have a basic knowledge of how to rid an area of mosquitoes,” said civic activist D. Mani.
“Ensuring that diseases like malaria do not spread is essentially the need of the hour. Depending on measures like fumigation alone will certainly not work,” said general physician Dr Stephen M.
“We often come across reports stating that mosquito borne diseases are reducing. It is however, hard to believe the same, as mosquitoes continue to be a menace, making it impossible for us to live peacefully,” said a frustrated young man.
According to WHO, between 2000 and 2014, the South East Asian Region achieved an 85 per cent decline in malaria mortality rates, with all member countries committed to malaria elimination by 2030 at the latest.
“WHO remains committed to working with member countries and partner organizations such as the Global Fund and the Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance to combat the debilitating disease and to lift its burden from the South-East Asia Region. We must end malaria for good. We must scale-up and sustain Region-wide anti-malaria efforts,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO regional director for South-East Asia on World Malaria Day.
