Activist groups and experts have called for greater private sector investment to overcome malaria menace in India even as the Union Health Ministry claimed that malaria deaths have been reduced by half in the last decade.

In the run-up to the World Malaria Day, the global groups like the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM), Asia-Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA) and the Empower School of Health urged the private sector to participate more in the malaria-control efforts in the country.

At a meeting here recently, attended by Health Secretary Lov Verma, among others, it was stressed India’s role to contribute to broader efforts against the disease, including through national corporate engagement initiatives, as a strong member of the G20 and the BRICS emerging market countries, as well as a leading producer and exporter of anti-malarial medicines.

“With 95 per cent of India’s population living in malaria-endemic areas and an estimated 1 million cases reported by the government each year, malaria continues to take a significant economic toll on the country,” said Herve Verhoosel, RBM representative at the United Nations.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to leverage the power of a booming economy in India to unlock resources and scale-up malaria-control interventions that will save lives and foster greater development for all. I call on the private sector to join with the government and civil society to help scale-up efforts and overcome biological challenges that threaten progress,” he said.

With 22 malaria-endemic countries in the Asia-Pacific, the region is home to over 2 billion people at risk of infection and accounts for approximately 32 million cases of malaria infection and 47,000 associated deaths each year. While a scale-up of interventions has averted over 80 million cases, and over 100,000 deaths since 2000, the Asia-Pacific region continues to carry the second highest malaria burden outside of Africa. India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea bear the largest burden of the disease, accounting for 89 per cent of all malaria cases in the region.

According to the ministry of health and family welfare, malaria deaths in India have been reduced by nearly half in the past decade, largely due to increased control efforts, a shift in drug policy that has mandated use of top-line Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies for malaria treatment and greater community participation and industry engagement.

“As the largest supplier of quality-assured Artemisinin-based combination therapies approved by the World Health Organization, India plays an enormous role in broader efforts against malaria,” said Professor Paul Lalvani, Dean and Director of the Empower School of Health. “With five Indian manufacturers responsible for the production and export of hundreds of millions of top-line anti-malarials in Africa and Asia, India stands to play a critical role in efforts to contain and overcome resistance to these drugs.”

According to the WHO’s 2013 World Malaria Report, malaria death rates have decreased by approximately 42 per cent  globally and 49 per cent in Africa alone – where 90 per cent of all malaria-related deaths still occur – contributing to a 20 per cent reduction in global child mortality and helping drive progress against other development targets. Collective efforts have helped avert an estimated 3.3 million deaths between 2001 and 2012 – 69 per cent of which were in the 10 countries with the highest malaria burden in 2000 – and more than half of the 103 countries that had ongoing malaria transmission in 2000 are meeting the MDG of reversing malaria incidence by 2015.

Increased financing will be critical to further advancements, as current international and domestic financing for malaria of US $2.5 billion in 2012 amounts to less than half of the US$ 5.1 billion RBM estimates is needed annually through 2020 to achieve universal coverage of malaria control interventions, the meeting felt.