Malaria deaths rise in Odisha during COVID-19 pandemic

BHUBANESWAR: The good work done to control malaria before 2020 seem to have been disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic as Odisha recorded a marked increase in deaths last year.

The State reported 13 malaria deaths in 2021 as compared to nine deaths each in 2020 and 2019 and three deaths in 2018. Even as all time low COVID cases can be a reason to heave a sigh of relief, increase in deaths due to malaria poses a worry.  

Odisha is ranked second after Chhattisgarh, where 34 deaths recorded last year. Of the 36 states and UTs, 27, including neighbouring Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have reported zero death while Kerala and Madhya Pradesh registered only one death each.

According to WHO, approximately two-thirds of the deaths were linked to disruptions in the provision of malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment during the pandemic.

Although the annual parasite index that had gone up from 0.88 in 2019 to 0.92 in 2020 has come down to 0.56 in 2021 and cases have dropped from 41,739 in 2020 to 25,525 last year, health experts suspected it was due to the reluctance of people to go for tests owing to COVID protocols and related restrictions. 

What has emerged as a concern is that five districts - Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Rayagada and Malkangiri are among the nine districts where the targeted interventions were made, have recorded more cases.