Downward Trend in Malaria Cases & Deaths in Nagaland

Guwahati: Only five positive malaria cases were reported in Nagaland in 2022, compared to a total of 8,479 cases in 2009, while malaria mortality decreased from 35 to none within the same time period.

This information was provided by Dr. Neisakho Kere, state programme officer for the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), during a lecture on the subject of “Time to Deliver Zero Malaria: Invest, Innovate, Implement” on Tuesday in honour of World Malaria Day.

According to him, from 2005 and 2022, 2009 saw the highest number of cases of malaria positive testing. After that, there were only five cases left in 2022. Dr. Kere continued, “Other districts did not report any case of malaria.” Only Dimapur, Kohima, Peren, and Phek reported positive cases.

The number of malaria-related deaths in Nagaland fell from 75 in 2006 to 35 in 2009 for the same time period. But after a patient passed away in 2016, the fatality rate from malaria fell to zero from 2017 to 2022.

Furthermore, Dr. Kere noted that Malaria Pv cases peaked at 5,596 in 2009 and have also decreased to only three in 2022, while Malaria Pf infections in Nagaland peaked in 2009 at 2,839 cases before falling to just two cases in 2022.

It should be noted that the parasites known as Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax are the two types of malaria that affect humans. While Pf causes the most severe type of malaria, which can manifest as cerebral malaria and is to blame for the vast majority of cases of death worldwide, Pv is a fatal illness but is typically milder than Pf. If caught in time, both forms of the disease are easily treatable and completely curable.

Moreover, Dr Kere asserted that eight districts in Nagaland had no positive cases reported, in line with India’s 2030 goal of having no new cases of malaria.

Dr. Vibeituouno M. Sachu, the principal director of the department of health and family welfare, claims that the state’s National Centre for Vector Borne Disease Control has been making progress towards a Nagaland free of malaria. Dr. Sachu added that while this was an important development in the fight against malaria, there was still a great deal more work to be done before the disease was completely eradicated.

Further, Y Kikheto Sema, the commissioner and secretary of the health and family welfare department, stated that even if the state observes World Malaria Day, there is no need to spread awareness of the malaria’s devastating consequences on social, political, and economic concerns.

He stressed, all sectors must work together on an information campaign and a sanitation initiative to end malaria in Nagaland by 2030.

Three exceptional Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) from the district health clinics in Kohima were also honoured for their work in gathering blood samples for malaria testing and spreading awareness of the illness at the occasion.