Malaria Cases, Deaths In India Decline By 69% Between 2017-2023: WHO
The decrease can mainly be accounted for by a decrease in India of 17.7 million estimated cases and a decrease in incidence by 93 per cent, from 20 to 1.5 per 1000 population at risk
Malaria Cases, Deaths In India Decline By 69% Between 2017-2023: WHO
New Delhi: India has seen significant progress in reducing malaria incidence and mortality rates, according to the latest World Malaria report, from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday.
Malaria is a life-threatening disease spread to humans by female Anopheles mosquitoes. It is preventable and curable.
The report showed that the number of estimated malaria cases in India decreased to 2 million cases in 2023 from 6.4 million in 2017 (69 per cent decrease). Similarly, the estimated malaria deaths decreased to 3,500 from 11,100 (68 per cent decrease) during the same period.
As a result, “India exited the High Burden to High Impact (HBHI) group officially in 2024”, the WHO said.
The HBHI approach is a targeted malaria response that is used in several countries to accelerate the pace of malaria elimination in countries with high malaria burden. India joined the HBHI initiative in July 2019.
The HBHI initiative was launched in four states in India: Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal.
Further, the report showed that in 2023, India accounted for half of all estimated malaria cases in the WHO South-East Asia Region, followed by Indonesia, which accounted for just under one-third.
The Region had eight malaria endemic countries in 2023 -- accounting for 4 million cases and contributing 1.5 per cent of the burden of malaria cases globally.
Just over 48 per cent of all estimated cases in the region were due to P vivax.
