World Malaria Day: WHO Pat For Odisha

Bhubaneswar: On World Malaria Day, WHO South East Asia tweeted an appreciation for the efforts of community health workers to tackle the problem in Odisha.

Sleeping under an insecticide-treated net is one of the most effective ways to prevent the vector-borne disease. These community health workers make door-to-door visits in villages at night to ensure that people who have received bed nets are using them properly, the post added.

In Odisha, the state with the greatest malaria burden in India, there were an estimated 295 000 reported cases from July through December 2016 – 56 of them fatal. During the same time period in 2017, the number of cases had fallen by nearly 50%, to approximately 156 000; fatalities fell by more than two thirds, to 16 deaths, the WHO said in its report.

In another tweet, WHO mentioned how the Odisha government had expanded access to insecticide-treated mosquito nets in schools with dormitories. Students are taught how to set up the net and ensure it is tucked in properly, it added.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also took to Twitter, informing people about WHO presenting Odisha as a global case study on successful elimination strategy against malaria. Health Minister Pratap Jena retweeted it, saying that the state has set a benchmark at international level in its efforts in curbing malaria.

Naveen had also tweeted a post in which he said that Odisha is ready to beat Malaria.