New Delhi: Around 14 million more cases of malaria and 69,000 more deaths due to it were reported worldwide in 2020 than in 2019 and India was the only high-burden country to have sustained a reduction in the disease burden, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report.
It, however, stated the rate of decline of the disease in India was slower than before the pandemic with the country still sharing over 80 per cent of the malaria burden of South-East Asia.
The World Malaria Report 2021, brought out by WHO, highlighted the havoc malaria continues to wreck on the world’s poorest and the most vulnerable.
It also highlighted sizable gaps in malaria funding as the demand to sustain progress increased last year to $6.8 billion with only a tiny increase in malaria funding.
In the South-East Asia region, the malaria funding per person at risk in India has been lower than the neighbouring countries, stated the report.
“Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, global gains against malaria had levelled off,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement.
Alongside plateauing investments, a sharp drop in malaria testing and gaps in mosquito-control measures contributed to the thwarted progress in the high-burden countries, the World Malaria Report 2021 stated.
Of the 31 countries that had planned insecticide-treated mosquito net campaigns in 2020, only 18 completed their campaigns by the end of that year.
Ravaged by the pandemic, India only managed to fulfil 50 per cent of its planned distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets and had also recorded a reduction in other measures like the indoor residual spraying during 2020, the report stated.
“The figures and trends are deeply concerning as the most malaria-affected countries witnessed a reversal of the gains the previous year,” said Dr Kaushik Sarkar, the director of the Institute for Malaria and Climate Solutions and the director in charge, Malaria No More India.
At the same time, India must focus on bridging the gap between the demand and supplies of vector control tools, Dr Sarkar said.
“With greater self-reliance and frugal innovations, it’s time the country shifts gears in the fight against malaria to make the next five years the last five years of suffering from malaria,” he added.
