The Health Department is working towards making the state malaria-free by 2025, well before the Central government’s deadline.
Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said, “The Union government has given us time till 2030 to eradicate malaria. However, with concerted efforts, we plan to make the state malaria-free by 2025”.
He was speaking at a workshop organised by the Karnataka health department, Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA), and Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN) on ‘Accelerating towards a Malaria Free Karnataka by 2025’.
Sudhakar saw the need to enhance awareness about malaria in areas reporting more cases and instructed the officials to travel to such places. According to data, Karnataka reported close to two lakh cases annually in 2001. It now reports close to 1,000 cases a year. “In 2020, Karnataka reported only 1,701 cases of malaria and this year, so far, only 100 cases are reported,” Sudhakar said.