The death of several people in various regions of India linked to an outbreak of dengue, chikangunya and Malaria has once again exposed the inadequacy of national public health programmes that aim to eliminate vector-borne diseases. Chikungunya and dengue have wreaked havoc. Surveillance for dengue and chikungunya in India presently captures only those patients that are laboratory confirmed at government identified sentinel hospitals, most of these are in the public sector.
According to the doctors if a person has a history of a chronic disease, it may get aggravated or re-activated by the chikungunya virus. Chikungunya itself does not kill. It is usually other diseases, in combination with chikungunya, that causes death. Chikungunya is not a life-threatening disease in general, but in rare cases leads to complications that prove fatal, especially in children and old persons.
Dengue is clearly the disease which has eclipsed in malaria in terms of morbidity and mortality. Dengue fever affects close to 400 million people worldwide each year, with about 40 per cent of the world’s population being at risk of exposure and infection. Malaria, Chikunkunya and Dengue claims lives.
For India to achieve its goal of eliminating malaria by 2030, and curb other vector-borne diseases, there has to be sustained effort and political will. The preventive plan should be for bio-environment control, fogging, distribution of bednets, besides quick and effective treatment. The effort should be to control the vector (mosquito), or the disease causing agent, and the host (human).
Malaria disease is one of the worst public health crises the country has ever faced, endangering one in every six Indians. Death can occur in as little as three days if an FP infection is not properly treated. Nearly 50,000 people die in the country every year due to complications of the disease. While travelling to a malaria endemic zone, anti-malarial tablets may be prescribed to prevent contracting this disease. Immediate diagnosis and treatment can help prevent complications and death. Every time a case of malaria is reported, a mapping exercise is undertaken to intensively fog and spray the pesticides in all surrounding areas. Though an infectious disease, whether a person contracts malaria or not, also depends substantially on how clean the surrounding environments are. One of the major causes of mosquito breeding is water stagnation. Its rather shocking that Indians having knowledge about the excellent benefits of Neem and cowdung, has not done any research towards the same, in for preventing malaria. Eliminating malaria is, and should be, a priority for the country, but grand pronouncements are meaningless as long as manipulated data distort our knowledge and bad governance impedes genuine attempts to fight the disease.
Recognition of mosquito breeding areas should be known to every adult and be taught in schools. Use of mosquito nets should be universalized. The present emphasis on mosquito repellants has done little to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. Instead of focusing on the cause we should try to prevent the mosquito from biting us!
Vinod Chandrashekhar Dixit
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
