India cannot, and must not, wait any longer to recognise the right to healthcare. (Editorial)

Although India had some successes in controlling malaria from the time of independence, it still faces a substantial socio-economic burden from this disease. This paper presents a case study of a highly endemic primary health centre with an annual parasite incidence of 30.9 in the tribal regions of Andhra Pradesh. It reviews the various operations involved in vector control methods like bed nets, insecticide spraying and anti-larval operations.

Successive Governments of India have promised to transform India's unsatisfactory health-care system, culminating in the present government's promise to expand health assurance for all. Despite substantial improvements in some health indicators in the past decade, India contributes disproportionately to the global burden of disease, with health indicators that compare unfavourably with other middle-income countries and India's regional neighbours. Large health disparities between states, between rural and urban populations, and across social classes persist.