NEW DELHI: The number of states/UTs falling with high malaria burden in India has come down from 10 in 2015 to two in 2023, latest data shared by the health ministry shows. A state/UT is considered to have ‘high burden’, also referred to as category 3, if it has more than one malaria case per 1,000 population under surveillance.
According to the health ministry, from 2015 to 2023, numerous states have transitioned from the higher-burden category to the significantly lower or zero-burden category.
In 2015, the ministry said, 10 states and UTs were classified as high burden (Category 3), of these, in 2023 only two states (Mizoram & Tripura) remain in Category 3, whereas four states such as Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Meghalaya, have moved to Category 2.
A state/UT is considered to fall under ‘category 2’ if it has less than 1 malaria case per 1,000 population under surveillance, but some districts have higher disease prevalence. Latest data shows four states, namely, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, MP, Arunachal, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli have moved to Category 1 – when a state has less than 1 case across all districts.
