World Malaria Report (WMR) is published by World Health Organization (WHO) every year and the estimates of malaria cases and deaths are based on the mathematical modeling. These estimates are arrived at by multiplying the reported data by a factor to arrive at the estimates.  Estimates are not the real malaria cases prevalent in the country.

 India has strong malaria surveillance mechanism where in around 120 million tests are performed every year and around 1 million malaria cases are detected which has been divided by the estimated cases (13 million) and the figure of 8 percent has been arrived at in the WMR 2017.

 Similarly, estimate of 6 percent of all global cases and maximum estimated deaths outside sub-Saharan region have been reported in WMR 2017 in respect of India but actually reported deaths are only 331 in 2016.

India is working for malaria elimination in the country by 2027 and this will be achieved through phased approach wherein the states with lower malaria burden will be brought under elimination and subsequently the high burden will be taken for elimination.

 The Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), Sh Ashwini Kumar Choubey stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha here today. 

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MV/LK

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