'Centre's role in eliminating malaria needs to be complemented by regional systems'

Kolkata: One-size-fits-all approach to eliminate malaria cannot be followed in India where many states have population larger than most countries and the Centre's role needs to be effectively complemented by regional systems, Director of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative Ashley Birkett said.

"The government's commitment to eliminate malaria is a critical first step. It will be important for India to determine how they, working with state level systems, plan to implement their malaria elimination strategy.

"In a country where many states have population larger than most countries, we cannot expect a one-size-fits-all approach and the role of the Centre needs to be effectively complemented by regional systems," he said.

Birkett is the director of the Washington-based PATH/MVI, which has been working on the world's leading malaria vaccine candidate - RTS, S, that was just announced by WHO as having received funding for pilot implementation in Africa.

Describing India's commitment to eliminating malaria as a commendable one, Birkett cited the example of Sri Lanka which eliminated the disease in early 2016.

"The case of Sri Lanka which eliminated the disease earlier this year shows that ridding a country of malaria is possible. Malaria mortality has decreased by 60 per cent worldwide, with 6.2 million lives saved since 2000 using currently available tools," he said.

Though India has shown a decline in the number of malaria cases in recent years, some 80 per cent of cases were reported in the north-eastern states in the same period, he said.

"There are many reasons that malaria in some regions having flourished and not others... The magnitude of the malaria problem is often exacerbated in tribal regions, areas that are poorly accessible, and regions of conflict. For these reasons, state and district-level initiatives are likely to be critical in combating India's malaria problem.

"While certain regions of India are close to elimination, e.G. Tamil Nadu and Punjab, other regions have a long way to go," he said.