Assessment of the Effectiveness of Government Malaria Control Programs in Reducing Plasmodium-Related Mortality: A Retrospective Study in Madhepura District, Bihar

Abstract

Malaria is also a major public health issue in India especially in the rural and flood prone areas where ecological as well as socio-economic parameters favor perpetuated transmission. The study was a retrospective study which assessed the effectiveness of the government malaria control programs in reducing the Plasmodium related mortality in Madhepura district, Bihar, in the period 2005-2012, based on secondary data available as district health records, the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, as well as published reports. The descriptive analysis of trends of malaria incidence, mortality, the proportion of cases caused by Plasmodium species, seasonal trends, deaths by age, and coverage of interventions revealed the presence of the persistent transmission and a significant decrease in malaria-related deaths and the proportion of death among cases. Fatalities were more than fifty percent and at the same time the access to early stages of diagnosis and artemisinin-based combination therapy improved as well as the leading role of plasmodium falciparum gradually faded away. The cases of malaria were highly observed during the monsoon season and more deaths were found in children below five years of age and adults between the age of 15-49 years. Altogether, the results suggest that governmental malaria control interventions were efficient in terms of decreasing the number of deaths caused by malaria in the district, whereas the unstopped malaria transmission, seasons of its peak, and demographic factors support the idea that the local, combined, and adapted approach to malaria control is necessary.