Union Health Ministry honours Chhattisgarh for reduction in malaria cases

• 26 Apr 2022

Why In News?

• On The World Malaria Day on April 25, 2022, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya felicitated Chhattisgarh for the decline in malaria cases in New Delhi.

Key point

• Dr Priyanka Shukla, Director, National Health Mission and Department of Health and Family Welfare and Dr. Subhash Mishra, Director, Epidemic Control, received the honour on behalf of the State Government in New Delhi.
• With the impact of the Malaria-Free Chhattisgarh Campaign and the Malaria-Free Bastar Campaign, there has been a major decline in the API rate (annual parasite incidence, i.e., the number of malaria patients found annually per 1,000 population). In 2018, while the state's API was 2.63, it has come down to 0.92 in 2021.
• It may be recalled that the first phase of 'Malaria Free Bastar Campaign' was conducted by the Department of Health and Family Welfare and the National Health Mission, Chhattisgarh in January-February 2020 in all the seven aspirational districts of Bastar division.
• 14 lakh six thousand people were tested for malaria in the first phase, 23 lakh 75 thousand in the second phase, 15 lakh 70 thousand in the third phase, 19 lakh 98 thousand in the fourth phase and 14 lakh 36 thousand in the fifth phase. The API of Bastar division, which had 26.78 APIs in 2016, has come down to 7.07 in 2021.
• Considering the good impact of the campaign in Bastar division, under the 'Malaria Free Chhattisgarh Campaign', it has been extended to a total of 21 districts of the state. The malaria positivity rate in the first, second, third, fourth and fifth phases of the campaign has been recorded at 4.6 per cent, 1.27 per cent, 1.03 per cent, 0.56 and 0.79 per cent respectively. With the impact of the campaign, malaria cases are continuously decreasing.