From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, July 16: Creating awareness among people is key to fighting malaria and other vector borne diseases, said Karnataka health minister Dr K Sudhakar in Bengaluru on Saturday.
``Monsoon season is a challenging period and we are seeing an uptick in the number of malaria cases in coastal Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, which is worrying,’’ he said.
Speaking at the workshop organised by the Karnataka Health Department, he instructed officials to travel to districts with high malaria cases and encourage people to take preventive measures to avoid the diseases.
The workshop was organised by Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA) and Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) on 'Accelerating towards a Malaria Free Karnataka by 2025.
The Minister said: "There were no proper testing facilities for malaria earlier and in the 1980s and 1990s. We started testing for malaria whenever someone caught a fever. With such testing and awareness programs among communities, the number of cases have drastically come down.’’
To fight any disease, creating awareness in society is very important, he said.
Generally, cases of malaria and dengue increase during the monsoon season and currently there has been very heavy rain in 13 districts of Karnataka.
Due to the rain water logging happens occurs in unused buckets, unused tyres, empty coconut shells etc., which are the breeding ground for mosquitoes which act as vectors to transmit these diseases.
A total of 1,86,532 malaria cases were detected across the country in 2020. Karnataka accounted for only 1,701 cases which is just 0.9% of cases in the country. A total of 21 crore malaria cases were detected across the world this year and out of this 6.27 lakh people have fallen victim, said Dr Sudhakar.
He said Malaria should not to be taken lightly. Only 100 malaria cases have been recorded in the past 6 months. ``We are witnessing an increase of cases in areas that have proximity to forests,’’ he said.
Dr Sudhakar said: ``Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's vision of Nava Karnataka can be realised only if we achieve a healthy Karnataka. In addition to malaria we also have to eradicate tuberculosis.’’
``The union government has given a target of eradicating malaria by 2030. However, we have taken it as a challenge and we will take measures to make Karnataka malaria free by 2025, 5 years before the Union government's target. To achieve this target, we also require the support of non-governmental organisations and the public in addition to government programmes,’’ he said adding: ``It should become every citizens’ responsibility to keep their surroundings clean. A lot of awareness has to be created in this regard.’’
Treatment alone is not enough, rather precautionary measures need to be taken to ensure that the disease does not come back. We need to be vigilant and never assume that there are no cases in districts like Kolar and Chikkaballapur just because no cases have been reported. We need to take measures to encourage communities to jointly participate in the malaria eradication effort, Minister Sudhakar said.
The Minister congratulated Avani Hegde, a class 9 student from Bengaluru who was among the winners at the poster making competition organised by the National Center for Vector borne Disease Control, Government of India.