News

‘Malaria Elimination Research Alliance (MERA) India’

• The Indian Council of Medical Research has launched the MERA India – a conglomeration of partners working on malaria control – in order to prioritise, plan and scale up research to eliminate the disease from India by 2030.

• The MERA India does not intend to duplicate international efforts rather complement this on a national scale while contributing to the broader global agenda.

• The alliance will facilitate trans-institutional coordination and collaboration around a shared research agenda which responds not only to programmatic challenges and addresses gaps in available tools, but also proactively contributes to targeted research.

• It aims to harness and reinforce research in coordinated and combinatorial ways in order to achieve a tangible impact on malaria elimination.

• The National Vector Borne Diseases Control Program (NVBDCP) of India has developed a comprehensive framework to achieve the overarching vision of “Malaria free India by 2030”.

Why such move?

• Over the past two decades, India has made impressive progress in malaria control.

• The malaria burden has declined by over 80 per cent, 2.03 million cases in 2000 to 0.39 million in 2018, and malaria deaths by over 90 per cent, 932 deaths in 2000 to 85 in 2018.

• This success has provided a strong foundation for the commitment from the leadership of the government of India to eliminate malaria from India by 2030.