Facts for Prelims (FFP)
Source: IE
Context: The World Malaria Report highlights India’s success in reducing malaria cases and deaths, with a 30% decline in cases and a 34% decline in mortality in 2022 compared to the previous year.
- Key factors contributing to this success include a focus on primary healthcare in remote areas, digital data-backed surveillance, and effective management of extreme weather events.
- Investments in insecticide mosquito nets, antimalarial drugs, and point-of-care tests, along with urbanization reducing mosquito breeding grounds, have played crucial roles.
Challenges include resistance issues, especially drug and insecticide resistance, and addressing vivax malaria, which requires a 14-day treatment course often not completed
About Malaria:
It is a life-threatening disease caused by a parasite. The parasite is spread to humans through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes
Malaria vaccines have been in development for almost 60 years. The first approved vaccine is RTS,S, also known as Mosquirix. The WHO recommends two malaria vaccines:
- RTS,S/AS01
- R21/Matrix-M
