NEW DELHI: India is among the four countries that account for 81 per cent of estimated deaths caused by Plasmodium vivax, the WHO said today and asserted that more than 18 crore people in the country are at high risk of malaria.
Noting that sustained and sufficient funding for malaria control is a “serious” challenge, the global body’s World Malaria Report, 2016, said despite a steep increase in global investment for fighting malaria between 2000 and 2010, funding has “flat-lined” since then.
“Four countries (Ethiopia, India, Indonesia and Pakistan) accounted for 78 per cent of Plasmodium vivax cases. Last year, these four countries accounted for 81 per cent of estimated deaths due to P. Vivax malaria, the report said adding 18,35,47,074 people were high risk of malaria last year.
Plasmodium vivax is a protozoal parasite and a human pathogen. It is one of the five species of malaria parasites that commonly infect humans and the most frequent and widely distributed cause of recurring malaria. It is less virulent than Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest of the five.
According to estimated malaria cases and deaths from 2000 to 2015, while there were 36,000 malaria deaths in 2000, the figures rose to 41,000 in 2005. In 2010, 33,000 estimated malaria deaths took place, while in 2015 it was 24,000.
The report said in 2015, an estimated 212 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide a fall of 22 per cent since 2000 and of 14 per cent since 2010.
“Most of the cases in 2015 were in the WHO African Region (90 per cent), followed by the WHO South-East Asia Region including India (7 per cent) and the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (2 per cent),” it said.
The WHO report said “sustained and sufficient” funding for malaria control is a serious challenge. (AGENCIES)
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