On World Malaria Day (25 April), WHO is launching a manual to help countries to assess the technical, operational and financial feasibility of moving towards malaria elimination.

This comprehensive brief explains why vector-borne diseases merit global attention. It provides detail on the vectors and the diseases they cause. It outlines the various methods of prevention and control of such diseases and the challenges that the public health community faces in tackling them.

Malaria is one of the most important tropical diseases that has caused devastation throughout the history of mankind. Malaria eradication programmes in the past have had many positive effects but failed to wipe out malaria from most tropical countries, including Sri Lanka. Encouraged by the impressive levels of reduction in malaria case numbers during the past decade, Sri Lanka has launched a programme to eliminate malaria by year 2014.

A preliminary screening was carried out on five plants viz., Azadirachta indica, Citrus medica, Murraya koenigii, Ocimum tenuifloreum and Ricinus communis for their repellent activity against mosquitoes. The repellent activity was studied under natural conditions in the field making use of the traditional knowledge as background. Field observations were undertaken in houses wherein dried powdered plant leaves each (250g) burnt on glowing charcoal produced smoke act as a repellent mosquitocide.

This 2013 edition of the annual WHO report on malaria summarizes information received from malaria-endemic countries and updates the analyses presented in the 2012. It highlights the progress made towards global malaria targets set for 2015, and describes current challenges for global malaria control and elimination.

Malaria, a disease of antiquity, has proved to be a formidable deterrent to the cultural and socioeconomic progress of man in tropical, subtropical and monsoon prone zones if world. The aim of the study was to highlight that the incidence of malaria is static throughout the year in India.

Task Involves Door-To-Door Inspection Of Houses, Spraying Insecticides And Creating Awareness

Pune: The Rs 1 crore ‘zeromosquito project’ of the Pune Municipal Corporation this year will become operational next month. This is the second time that the civic body approved the project’s implementation. A work order for the project was issued to Dhankawdibased Deesha Agency on February 26.
“We have issued the work order to the agency to carry out indoor vector control programme under the zero-mosquito project, on February 26.

New tools for malaria control, artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) and long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) were recently introduced across India. We estimated the impact of universal coverage of ACT and ACT plus LLINs in a setting of hyperendemic, forest malaria transmission.

Rational decision making on malaria control depends on an understanding of the epidemiological risks and control measures. National Malaria Control Programmes across Africa have access to a range of state-of-the-art malaria risk mapping products that might serve their decision-making needs. The use of cartography in planning malaria control has never been methodically reviewed.

WHO reports unprecedented progress against 17 neglected tropical diseases, thanks to a new global strategy, a regular supply of quality assured, cost-effective medicines and support from global partners.

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