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HomeOpinionWorld Malaria Day — Prevention is better than cure: Part I

World Malaria Day — Prevention is better than cure: Part I

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Both Dengue and Malaria have been spreading in an epidemic form and has been scaring people for a long time. Preventing ourselves from these malarial parasites is of utmost importance. People suffer more due to late detection or self-medication. Now, a new fear of drug-resistant malaria is on its way to enter India — so a need of awareness is necessary. There are five types of parasites, which causes malaria in humans, of which Plasmodium falciparum is the most common and responsible for most deaths worldwide. Three species of human malaria parasites are found in India of which Vivax is the most predominant one. NMMC has taken a right approach in eradicating the disease from the grass root level by doing door to door survey of water stagnation inside flats and other surroundings in the housing societies. Even NMMC pasted big posters to create awareness among the citizens of the satellite city.  Let us cooperate with the NMMC and keep the city neat and clean. After all, ‘Health is Wealth’ and we protect the death of human being by maintaining proper cleanliness at home and avoid water stagnation in our surroundings to make sure that mosquitoes did not get a space to breed in our compound.

Malaria would have been a simpler problem if not for its habit of recurring again and again. It is this problem which also keeps the disease alive in a community and makes its control quite difficult. It is time to take a broader outlook at what malaria and its effects on person affected in Navi Mumbai. Malaria parasites are members of the genus Plasmodium caused by P. falciparum, P. malariae, P. Ovale, P. Vivax and P. Knowlesi.  P. falciparum is the most common cause of the infection and is responsible for about 80 per cent of all Malaria cases. Female mosquitoes are primary hosts and transmission vectors of malaria. Mosquitoes first ingest the parasite by feeding on an infected human. The infected mosquitoes then carry the parasites in their salivary glands and are then ready to infect a new human host.

Female mosquitoes feed on blood while male mosquitoes fee on plant nectar thus, males do not transmit the disease. Building secretaries of the multi-storied buildings in the satellite city should see to it that proper remedial measures are taken to control menace of mosquitoes and that will definitely help in curbing Malaria cases in Navi Mumbai. Proper steps should be initiated to give useful fuming on alternate days initially and then have it once in a week or so. Stagnant water in society should not be permitted and the storm water in the drainage should not be stagnant to permit lava to form and become mosquitoes thereafter. Malaria menace can be totally avoided if the building societies apply regular dose of repellents in the drainage system to kill them in the bud.

Jayanthy Subramaniam

(This is the first part of the Diary and the rest of the article will continue tomorrow.)

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

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