Background and aim:
Insecticidal mosquito nets and indoor residual spraying are the two most-effective ways to prevent malaria.
Indoor residual spray, a malaria control measure, saved the lives of over 41 million people in India in 2015; WHO said that the method was a “highly effective” way for vector control.
The region has reached the malaria-related MDG targets and more recently (between 2010 and 2015), it cut case incidence by an estimated 54% and the malaria mortality rate by around 46%”, says WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia, Poonam Khetrapal Singh.
Maldives and Sri Lanka were certified malaria-free in 2015 and 2016 respectively, terming it as a “stunning achievement”.
The theme of this year’s World Malaria Day was enhancing prevention as a critical means of closing the gap and ending malaria for good.
To achieve this in addition to the above basic measure, POC (Point-of-care) or near-patient testing allows physicians and medical staff to accurately achieve, in quick time, lab quality diagnostic results within minutes rather than hours. By simplifying the testing process, clinicians can focus on what matters most-providing effective, quality patient care. Near-patient testing offers benefits that extend beyond the bedside.
It allows care-givers to improve efficiency and productivity, simplify processes and procedures, and comply with regulatory and performance mandates, and reduce staff burden to bring the focus back to where it belongs: on the patient”, says Dr. Sanjeev Gupta, Advy Chemical.
As the planet gets warmer, scientists say, mosquito-borne diseases will continue spreading farther north. A recent study found that rising global temperatures caused by the climate crisis could see the female aedes aegypti mosquito which carries dengue — along with other diseases such as chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika — migrate to areas where it was not endemic before, with Europe, the US, East Asia and parts of central America, East Africa and Canada seeing large increases in risk.”
Know More: Diagnostic Kits
