India has seen significant progress in reducing malaria incidence and mortality rates, according to the latest World Malaria report, from the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday.Malaria is a life-threatening disease spread to humans by female Anopheles mosquitoes. It is preventable and curable.
The report showed that the number of estimated malaria cases in India decreased to 2 million cases in 2023 from 6.4 million in 2017 (69 per cent decrease).
Similarly, the estimated malaria deaths decreased to 3,500 from 11,100 (68 per cent decrease) during the same period.
As a result, “India exited the High Burden to High Impact (HBHI) group officially in 2024”, the WHO said.
The HBHI approach is a targeted malaria response that is used in several countries to accelerate the pace of malaria elimination in countries with high malaria burden. India joined the HBHI initiative in July 2019.