With malaria deaths in Meghalaya dropping from 40 in 2015 to just three last year, the state government is now moving from the intensified control phase to the elimination phase of the disease, officials said on Tuesday.
Only 27 malaria deaths were reported in the entire state in the past five years from 2017 onwards, they said.
"We have managed to achieve this milestone with early detection of the diseases at village level and complete treatment of all cases besides distributing mosquito nets in areas identified as vulnerable to the outbreak," a senior doctor in the team that handled the vector-borne control team told PTI.
Testing is free of cost, medicines are given free of cost and even mosquito nets are provided free of cost to the patients under the National Vector Borne Programme of the Government of India, she said.
An analysis of the state epidemiological situation from 1997 to 2019 revealed that the highest number of deaths due to malaria was reported in 2007 with 237 deaths in one year and out of this 117 deaths were reported in West Garo Hills district alone.
This also led to the state's Health department to adopt a model identified as "Tura model" (Tura being the district headquarters) to control the disease.
"Early detection and treatment was prioritized with the active assistance of ASHA workers. In the first year itself, out of 7,280 patients tested, 2,653 tested positive for the disease and were successfully treated and none of the patients died," the doctor said.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU