The scattered cases of malaria being reported from the State has led the Health Department to focus more on creating awareness about the disease and ensure people’s participation in resistance activities.
This year’s World Malaria Day, being observed on April 25, has the theme ‘Zero malaria starts with me’. According to the Health Department, both indigenous and imported malaria cases are being reported in Kozhikode in the past few years. The department has put the total number of cases so far this year at 15. Of them, eight cases were reported between January and February. The presence of Anopheles mosquitoes that spread the disease has been confirmed in the State, and there have been deaths owing to cerebral malaria too.
The World Health Organisation says that after more than a decade of steady advances in fighting malaria, progress has levelled off. According to the WHO’s latest World Malaria Report, no significant gains were made in reducing malaria cases between 2015 and 2017. The estimated number of malaria deaths in 2017, at 4,35,000, remained virtually unchanged over the previous year. Sporadic fever, shivering, headache, nausea, and vomiting are some of the symptoms of malaria. Treatment is available at all government hospitals.
District Collector S. Sambasiva Rao will open the events to mark the occasion. K.P. Prakash Kumar, District Malaria Officer, will deliver a talk on the ways to contain malaria.
