Malaria has been so prevalent in the country that even Bollywood uses it in its songs, casually mentioning the mosquito-borne disease in the same breath as a common cold.
The good news is that India has made significant progress in reducing the incidence of the disease. The bad news is that we still have a long way to go to eliminate it from the country.
More than 90 percent of India’s is at the risk of a malaria infection, as compared to Bangladesh at 11 percent and Nepal at 48 percent. According to the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, last year, there were 840, 838 cases of malaria in India, while 103 people died due to the disease. In 2016, malaria cases and deaths were 10,59,437 and 242 respectively.
This year, 132 cases have been reported in Hyderabad alone till the first week of April. Where does India stand in achieving its goal of eliminating malaria by 2030? Here are six big facts about the disease.