Out of total malaria infection cases in the country, about one third are imported from India, the EDCD said. [break]
Each year, over 3,000 people across the country get infected from the disease, while 60,000 come to health institutions seeking treatment.
Hundreds of thousands of people go to India in search of jobs where many get infected with malaria. Compared to Nepal, prevalence of malaria is high in India, the EDCD said.
"We have been struggling to check the imported cases of malaria," Dr GD Thakur, director of EDCD, said. He said that the department has so far achieved success in curbing indigenous infection rate. Dr Thakur also revealed that secretary of Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) and director general of Department of Health Services (DoHS) recently met with their Indian counterparts to discuss cross boarder malaria transmission issue.
"With relentless effort, we succeeded in controlling the disease. Now we are working to eliminate the disease completely," added Dr Thakur. The government has been working to make the country malaria-free by 2026. The EDCD aims to reduce existing rate of malaria incidences by 75 percent by 2015. The office has prepared a micro strategy to achieve that target.
The EDCD said that it has ascertained 54 VDCs of Tarai districts as being at high-risk of malaria outbreak and 201 VDCs at moderate risk.
The government has been distributing insecticide nets in 31 districts that have 92 percent prevalence rate.
The ministry has also arranged laboratory facilities at every health posts of high-risk districts, which can detect the disease within 10 minutes. The government´s malaria elimination campaign has been in existence since the last 55 years.
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