Malaria Free India – Possibility or Enigma?

Malaria, despite being treatable as well as preventable, is still quite prevalent in our country and is responsible for a large number of deaths. Though Govt. of India (GOI) has launched anti-malaria program since 1953 but is yet to achieve a zero malaria status. In SE Asia, two small countries, Maldives and Sri Lanka, have been declared Malaria free by WHO. Hence, we need to think why we cannot achieve this status? For this we need to study how these two countries were successful and what are our limitations/pitfalls. The medical profession has a great role to play. Not only we have to advise GOI to formulate the correct policy but also we need to plug the rampant pitfalls in our practice. Implementation of WHO’s 3 T (Test, treat and track) policy can be a table turner.