It has taken Goa almost three decades to reach the elimination stage formalaria. However, the battle is far from over even as the incidences of indigenous cases have hugely reduced from 25,000 cases in 1998 to 68 reported this year till September-end.
The state recorded 400 imported cases from January till September, which were detected largely among migrant labourers.
To achieve elimination status, Goa has to see zero indigenous cases and nil deaths and is set to achieve the target by 2022 along with 15 states. The directorate of Health Services (DHS) has doubled its efforts towards this end. Goas high load of malaria is owing to migrant labourers. Whenever the influx of migrants goes up, so does the malaria caseload. It is difficult to reach a base level post-November, after the end of the malaria period from June to October.
Long-lasting insecticide (LLI) treated nets that are provided by the government of India are given to construction and other workers. LLI netss are not to be given to Goa, but for states such as Odisha and those in the north east. However, during a review meeting we informed the authorities that since Goa has a high presence of migrant labourers from other states we should be provided with LLI nets, too.