Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, April 23: Malaria has plagued the state with more than 12 lakh people being diagnosed malaria positive since 2011 and 335 persons of the state dying after being afflicted by the deadly vector-borne disease in that period.
The state is prone to malaria because of the hilly regions and the poor sanitation situation and accounts for nearly 60 per cent of all the malaria cases in the country.
It has the maximum number of malaria deaths in the first three months of 2015, with nine people succumbing to the disease. Meghalaya, with six deaths, comes second.
The state has recorded 93 deaths because of malaria in 2014, according to data available with the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP). The number was 75 in 2013. The disease has taken a toll of 49 lives in the past six months, with two people dying in March alone.
The state has recorded two deaths each in February and March, while five persons have died of the disease in January. The deaths in March were recorded from Rayagada and Sambalpur while in February they were recorded from Jharsuguda and Mayurbhanj.
Unfortunately, the state government’s ambitious Mo Masari Yojana had not been able to produce results. “Mo Masari Yojana involved the distribution of mosquito nets to people in the hilly regions. The people are not sensitised to using the nets and this may contribute to the rise in malaria cases,” said an official here.
State officials are striving to control the menace and the state government plans to launch another scheme, called DaMaNa (Durgama Anchalare Malaria Nirakarana), to prevent the spread of the disease.
The proposed scheme will be implemented in eight tribal districts such as Malkangiri, Koraput, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Rayagada, Sundargarh, Kalahandi and Nuapada. The people will be sensitise and given medicines through the scheme if they are diagnosed malaria positive.
