Knowledge amongst adult population regarding vectors of malaria in 21 states of India.

ABSTRACT

Malaria is the world's most important tropical disease which kills more people than any other disease except tuberculosis. It is a public health problem in more than 90 countries, inhabited by a total of some 2400 million people, 40% of the world's population. More than 90% of all malaria cases are in sub Saharan Africa, with two thirds of the remainder concentrated in six countries viz. India, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Vietnam and Columbia in decreasing order of prevalence. Even now the problem of malaria in India is grossly underestimated. A rough estimate of morbidity due to malaria made on the basis of consumption of antimalarials comes to 35.5 million episodes in addition to malaria cases treated by the National Anti Malaria Programme (NAMP). In addition to large scale morbidity and mortality, it affects agricultural and industrial produce causing great socioeconomic losses.