Urban and Rural Malaria Trends in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram: 2008–2010 Analysis
Table of Contents
Introduction
This post presents an insightful excerpt from a zoology thesis investigating the patterns of malaria transmission in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram Districts of Andhra Pradesh. Malaria remains a pressing public health issue in India, and understanding local trends is key for effective control strategies.
This analysis sheds light on how urbanization, climate, and socio-economic factors shape malaria prevalence in both urban and rural settings. Students, researchers, and public health professionals will benefit from this data-rich account of malaria dynamics during 2008–2010. Read on to explore raw data, survey results, and crucial findings that continue to inform malaria prevention efforts today.
Excerpt
INCIDENCE OF MALARIAL PARASITE IN VISAKHAPATNAM AND VIZIANAGARAM DISTRICTS DURING 2008 – 2010
Malaria is a complex disease and various factors influenced by human activities and natural calamity like excessive rainfall, flood, drought and other disasters have great bearing on mosquitogenic conditions leading to increased potential for malaria transmission.
Like any other disease, natural transmission of malaria depends on the presence of, and relationship between the three basic epidemiological factors (Githeko and Wamai, 2004).
In urban areas, risk factors that may be different to those in rural areas lead to different disease burdens. In areas with sedentary populations and lower levels of malaria transmission, all age groups, rather than just young children and pregnant women, may be at risk of severe malaria.
Accurate assessment of malaria transmission rates across towns and cities is needed to facilitate targeted prevention and control. This will reduce ill health and save lives, preserve and build conditions for economic growth and avoid unnecessary diversion of resources away from rural areas.
Dr GPS Dhillon summarized the trends of malaria in India and its spatial distribution and reporting system. He referred to 1953 when the National Malaria Control Programme was initiated.
Significant gains were made and led to the change in strategy from control to eradication in 1958. During the 1960s, the annual malaria incidence rapidly declined to 0.1 million cases.
However, in the 1970s a resurgence of malaria was observed peaking with 6.46 million reported cases in 1976. In response, the Modified Plan of Operation was launched in 1977 and monitoring of P. falciparum sensitivity to anti-malarial drugs was initiated.
Since then the incidence of malaria has stabilized with approximately 2 million cases annually. In 2006, 1.76 million cases and 1,679 deaths were reported.
The implementation of control measures under National Malaria Eradication Programme (NMEP) brought down malaria incidence markedly by 1963 and at the same time increasing trend of malaria was observed in some towns/cities.
Ten urban areas in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu contributed 11% of the malaria cases in the two states during 1963.
Andhra Pradesh is second among urbanized states in India. As per the 2001 census, the rate of urbanization is 27.08% which is only higher than Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh among the major states.
Andhra Pradesh is endemic for malaria. The problem of malaria can be divided into Rural, Urban and Tribal Malaria.
Rural areas contribute 47.4%, Tribal belt contributes 42% and urban area contributes up to 10.6%. Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, Krishna, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Kumool, Khammam, Prakasam and Cuddapah contribute 88% of total cases in the state.
Visakhapatnam city is highly urbanized with a population of around 40 lakhs in the north of Visakhapatnam District of A.P.
The sub-urban area is under surveillance by the malaria unit staff. Visakhapatnam District is selected as a vulnerable district out of 9 districts in Andhra Pradesh state as per the NVBDCP, Delhi.
As part of that, Rapid Diagnostic Kits were distributed in all the tribal PHCs for easy diagnosis in the villages which were 3 kilometers from PHC headquarters.
The malaria incidence of India since 1995–2010 shows a declining trend in the Annual Malaria-Incidence (AMI) in the country, with only 1.65 million cases reported in 2003. There were 0.7 million cases of P. falciparum malaria.
The major endemic areas in India are in the Northeastern states, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, M.P., Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Orissa besides a few local areas in other parts of the country.
The malaria data of Visakhapatnam, and Andhra Pradesh comparing from 2006–2010 shows that Visakhapatnam contributes significantly to the state’s malaria burden.
The Slide Positivity Rate (SPR) reported from Visakhapatnam shows the highest in 2007 (1.13%) and is nearly two times more than that of Andhra Pradesh overall, but the Pf% of Andhra Pradesh shows an increasing trend from 2006 to 2010 ranging from 3.86% to 6.08%. However, Pf% of Visakhapatnam is decreasing by two times ranging from 3.11% to 3.22%.
The statistical analysis shows a high correlation of SPR with maximum temperature (p<0.08) and minimum temperature (p<0.03).
It also showed that relative humidity played a significant role in malaria incidence (SPR) at (p<0.02). The percentage of Pf was found to be significantly related to minimum temperature (p<0.05).
When comparing the urban, rural and tribal industrial areas, the SPR and Pf% are very high in tribal areas, while urban areas are comparatively low. The SPR was found to range from 0.7–2.4 and Pf% is 76–100 in tribal areas. In contrast, the urban area SPR was 0.1–0.2 and Pf% is 4–14.
(Excerpt source: Chapter III, pages 27–47)
Source Citation
Researcher: Ramakrishna, S
Thesis Title: Studies on certain malaria transmission dynamics in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts of Andhra Pradesh
Guide: Sandeep B V.
University: Andhra University
Completed Date: 2012
Exit Page Number: 47
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