Odisha seeks 40 lakh mosquito nets to combat malaria

Bhubaneswar: In a bid to reduce malaria menace in Odisha, the state government has urged the Centre to provide additional 40 lakh Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLIN) to cover the high risk population, Health and Family Welfare Secretary P K Meherda said today.

In a letter to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, the state asked for 40 lakh nets in the first instalment, he said.

The Centre has decided to provide 1.13 crore LLINs under the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tubercolosis and Malaria (GFATM) to Odisha, Meherda said adding that this will help the state to combat Malaria to a great extent.

Earlier between 2009 and 2012, the Centre had supplied certain number of LLINs which were distributed among the very high burden districts.

With present support from GFATM, the state government would be able to protect the high risk population of 17 'high-burdened' districts, Meherda said.

Meherda also said the state would require as many as 1.56 crore LLINs in order to eliminate Malaria totally by 2027-30.

The state had earlier in February this year submitted its total requirement of LLINs to the Directorate of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP).

Meanwhile, the state government has been informed that besides GFATM (The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria) support, an additional 40 Lakh LLINs have been alloted to Odisha under Domestic Budgetary Support (DBS), Meherda said.

"With this additional quantity of LLINs, the high risk population of another 10 districts, where around 70 lakh population reside in high risk areas spread over to 62 Blocks, will be protected," Meherda said.