World Malaria Day: Harness innovation to save lives

Chennai: The World Health Organization celebrated World Malaria Day every year on 25 April to empower the collective energy and to commitment of the global community to prevent the disease for the common goal of a world free of malaria.

The theme of World Malaria Day 2022 is "Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives." The World Health Organization is calling for investments and new innovation for a implementation of a approaches, diagnostics, antimalarial medicines and other such elements to fight against malaria disease.

In 2020, an estimated 241 million new cases of malaria and 6,27,000 malaria related deaths were reported in 85 countries. Out of which, more than two thirds of the deaths were among children under the age of 5 living in the African Region.

However, India has made remarkable progress in controlling malaria with 86.45 per cent decline in cases of the vector- borne disease and 79.16 per cent reduction in deaths in 2021 as compared to 2015, Union Health Minister said.

Awareness in India

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said railway stations in New Delhi, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar and Nagpur will be illuminated in hues of orange and purple on Monday to raise awareness among the general public about the disease.

Mandaviya called for prioritisation of malaria elimination through national and sub-national efforts. He emphasised that leveraging technology and innovation will help in developing tailor-made solutions to advance India's malaria elimination plan and contribute to improved health, quality of life and alleviation of poverty.

Ground level frontline healthcare workers including ASHAs, ANMs along with partner organisations need to work in tandem for creating mass awareness about diagnosis, timely and effective treatment and vector control measures, he said.

The private sector including private practitioners need to align their malaria case management and reporting and related activities with the national programme, he said

As we move ahead with innovative technology use, India's 'e-sanjeevani' has shown the pathway for tele-consultation and tele-referencing which are being widely used at the ground level for diagnosis and treatment of various healthcare problems including malaria , he stated.