Malaria mortality declines in Orissa

“During the current year up to end of September 2011,the death due to malaria is 58 in comparison to 162 last year during the period which is lesss by more than one hundred,” she said.

The patient load due to malaria in different hospitals has also reduced,she said adding that the decline in deaths due to malaria in 2011 can be attributed to surveillance and case management,Integrated Vector Management,epidemic preparedness and early response,supportive interventions and strengthening human resource utilisation.

Besides medical officers,more than 30,000 ASHAs (accredited social health activists) and other health department personnel,nearly 1000 tribal school teachers have been trained for malaria surveillance,treatment,referral and supportive supervision,she said.

Large scale use of Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Bed Nets (LLIN )in hyper endemic areas has been very much effective in control of malaria,the health secretary said adding that incidence of malaria in pregnant mothers as well as low birth weight new borns has also decreased during the period.

However,the report claimed that the disease has been eradicated from three countries since 2007 — Morocco,Turkmenistan and Armenia.

Robert Newman,director of the WHO’s Global Malaria Programme,described the progress as “remarkable”.

“Better diagnostic testing and surveillance has provided a clearer picture of where we are on the ground – and has shown that there are countries eliminating malaria in all endemic regions of the world,” he told an international Malaria Forum conference in Seattle.

“We know that we can save lives with today’s tools.” A global malaria eradication campaign,launched by WHO in 1955,succeeded in eliminating the disease in 16 countries and territories. Eight more nations were declared malaria-free up until 1987,when certification was abandoned for 20 years.

The Roll Back Malaria Partnership aims to eliminate malaria in another eight to 10 countries by the end of 2015,including the entire WHO European Region.