vector borne diseases in India

India remains vulnerable to vector-borne diseases



With nearly 2,000 outbreaks due to vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and Japanese Encephalitis reported last year, people in India remain vulnerable to the infectious ills of pathogens and parasites.

World over too, the situation is not encouraging. More than half the total population is at risk from such diseases, says World Health Organisation as it marks April 7 as the World Health Day.

Every year, more than one billion people are infected and more than one million die from vector-borne diseases said an official from the WHO which is creating awareness about the serious and increasing threat of vector-borne diseases, with the slogan “Small bite, big threat.”

“These diseases can be eradicated through preventive measures and more financial commitment for campaigns against the disease. We want to make people empowered to take decisions on their own to prevent these diseases,” said Nata Menabde, WHO representative to India recently.

Menabde said there was a need to strengthen the overall healthcare system in the country to prevent these diseases and more financial commitment to contain them.

“I also want to emphasize the importance of the primary healthcare campaign in this regard,” she said. Within the past two decades, many important vector-borne diseases have also re-emerged or spread to new parts of the world.

For instance, mosquito-borne dengue is now found in 100 countries, putting more than 2.5 billion people — over 40 per cent of the world’s population — at risk. Dengue has recently been reported in China, Portugal and the State of Florida, in the USA.

For many vector-borne diseases, there are no vaccines, and drug resistance is an increasing threat. Vector control plays a vital role and is often the only way to prevent disease outbreaks, says the WHO.

On the situation in India, a Union Health Ministry official said that out of 1,964 outbreaks of diseases, maximum were from Maharashtra (13 per cent) followed by Karnataka (12.8 per cent) and West Bengal (11.8 per cent). Ironically, laboratory facilities were accessed in 63 per cent of the outbreaks reported, said the official.