Malaria in India: Past,present and future

Malaria existed in ancient India even centuries before Christ. With the introduction of DDT as a residual insecticide, malaria control in India was attempted in 1953. It was converted into an eradication programme in 1958. With the help of DDT and chloroquine, the number of malaria cases came down sharply and only 0·1 million cases were recorded in 1965. Since then there had been a setback and cases went on increasing till 1976 when 6·4 million cases of malaria were recorded. by national malaria eradication programme. The eradication programme was converted into a control programme in 1977 by the introduction of modified plan of operations. Cases of malaria have shown progressive decline since 1977. But the most disturbing feature is the resurgence of P. falciparum malaria with appearance of chloroquine resistance in this species. The situation needs to be tackled urgently.