Contents

• Introduction 4
• Malaria 5
• Symptoms of malaria 7
• Malaria in India 8
• Malaria and Mortality 15
• Malaria and Economy 16
• Malaria in Mumbai 18
• Proposed Plans for Management and Control of Malaria in Mumbai 26
• Conclusion 30

Description

Malaria is one of the major causes of infantile, children and adult deaths in India. The malaria outbreak in the modern India is not too different from that during the pre-independence years of India. Malaria outbreaks cause economical suffering, reduced productivity, and reduced earnings in the poor nations. Malaria, poverty, lack of education, lack of adequate medical facilities put a nation in a vicious circle. Although, India is not in the same league as some of the African countries that require external assistance to counter the outbreak of malaria, anti-malaria programs in India leave a lot to be desired. There are state funded primary health clinics, but the efficiency and the availability of adequate medical facilities at these centers remains a suspect. There are drug distribution centers and since these are controlled by the respective state governments, there is no uniformity in the level of operations and efficacy of these drug distribution centers. Mumbai is called the financial capital of India. The ultra rich and the poor co-exist in the city with a difference that the rich have access to best of the medical facilities and the poor may not even get proper sanitary facilities. The monsoons in India, especially in Mumbai act as catalyst to epidemics including Malaria. However, situation is not that bleak too. The governmental machinery is doing its bit to eradicate malaria. The diversity among population such as ethnicity, socio economical status, regional diversity at times act as hindrance to effective implementation of malaria management and control schemes. The problem of frequent malaria outbreaks in Mumbai are not just due to mosquito breeding but due to poor civic amenities especially among the slum dwellers. The paper discusses symptoms of malaria, its causes and treatment. The paper discusses prevalence of malaria in India and in Mumbai. The paper discusses the underlying reason as to why seemingly curable disease grows to the extent of becoming epidemic in modern India, which has access to enough funds, medical facilities and technology. The paper finally makes recommendations to the civic authorities in Mumbai, central and state health bodies to relocate slums away from the city, build an economical township for the slum dwellers and create cleaner ambience for the city as well as the township so that mosquitoes cannot thrive.