Election & Malaria

In this time of election season many of us will probably forget about World Health Day on April 7 i.e. today. And in all likelihood, none of the candidates in fray for the Lok Sabha elections here in Nagaland would have talked about things like people’s health and access to proper medical care. Yes, the Naga political issue, development such as roads, job creation and even peace, these are significant, especially if you want to win an election. However sometimes we often tend to forget or diminish the equally important things that matter to ordinary people such as health care, water or sanitation. Let us therefore be reminded of these politically small, yet big concerns for our humanity. This World Health Day – 7 April – the World Health Organization (WHO) is highlighting the serious and increasing threat of vector-borne diseases, with the slogan “Small bite, big threat”.

According to the WHO, more than half the world’s population is at risk from diseases such as malaria, dengue, leishmaniasis, Lyme disease, schistosomiasis, and yellow fever, carried by mosquitoes, flies, ticks, water snails and other vectors. The WHO goes on to state that every year, more than one billion people are infected and more than one million die from vector-borne diseases. Nevertheless, the organization also emphasizes that these diseases are entirely preventable. Newly published “A global brief on vector-borne diseases” outlines steps that governments, community groups and families can all take to protect people from infection.

Now for those of us in Nagaland, we are quite familiar with malaria given that the region we inhabit is quite prone to the mosquito since time immemorial. In fact, we even have a District Malaria Officer (DMO) posted across the State. Further, we are getting assistance under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Program (NVBDCP). How well has the concerned department done, when it comes to delivering on this front? If we go by official statistics, the number of malaria cases and deaths in the last four years has come down. This is well and good but certainly not enough to contain vector borne diseases.

As far as the government’s response goes, more can still be done. For instance, anti-malaria month is usually held every year during the month of June. We all know that the peak season for malaria is between the months of March and July. Perhaps the concern department can have a longer programme extending to at least three months like April to June. Loss of precious lives can be averted. Also there needs to be an increase in the awareness programmes including on Indoor Residual Spray (IRS). The recent advertisements in the local dailies about the use of IRS should be increased and given more prominence. They should have also included contact numbers so as to ensure greater access to information and services available. More mass awareness has to be created about how we can control and prevent malaria. Besides media, the platform of educational institutions and the Church can be better used to reach out to the masses.

The threat posed by malaria should not be underestimated. We certainly cannot claim to be ‘malaria free’ as we have succeeded in the case of polio. As Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General rightly states, “no one in the 21st century should die from the bite of a mosquito…” The sad truth is that as we vote for our next representative to Parliament, perhaps the health agenda, increase funding to save lives or the political commitment to address it will be far from everyone’s mind when in fact even something politically insignificant as malaria merits attention. As the World Health Day 2014 theme underlines even a ‘small bite can be a big threat’.