World Malaria Day is celebrating on April 25, an effort towards spreading awareness about malaria and its prevention, Dr Rajkumar Chaudhary, Secretary, Association of Hospitals, says, “A continuing theme from last year is Invest in the Future, defeat malaria a part of the WHO initiative, holds the limelight for this year’s World Malaria day. The aim is to completely irradiate the ailment even if the number of cases is reducing year by year, a lack of awareness and preventive measures is still a major cause for concern. Improved awareness initiative programmes, will help to control this fatal disease. The nature of the disease is as such that is difficult to detect, and is not picked up in the first two blood samples. Due to this, there are several cases of patients landing in hospitals with lung, heart, liver problems.

Mumbai is a hotspot of vector-borne diseases owing to its unique environment and demographics. Mumbai is densely packed slums and these areas are always disproportionally impacted. Although the infection rates are high, many people cannot afford anti-malarial drugs, repellent or use mosquito nets. A major chunk of these individuals live below the poverty line and are unable to procure sufficient amenities to protect themselves and their families against Malaria”

The symptoms start around 7-10 days after being bitten by a carrier mosquito. The patient feels fatigued, has bouts of fever every few hours, shivers even when the outside temperature is normal, and suffers from headache, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. If immune system is weak, the symptoms may get triggered sooner than usual.


On severe signs of these symptoms it is pertinent to undergo tests and get a proper diagnosis as soon as possible. Malaria can be cured easily if diagnosed at an early stage. It is exceedingly difficult to treat malaria if it is in an advanced stage because the parasites keep on reproducing, leaving the body prone to further infections.

The disease is normally diagnosed by the examination of blood using blood films or with antigen-based diagnostic tests. Transmission of malaria can be prevented with the use of mosquito nets and insect repellents. Although no vaccine exists yet, development is in progress. Severe malaria is treated with quinine or artesunate and mefloquine.