Tripura takes steps to check malaria outbreak

The Tripura government has undertaken steps to check any malaria outbreak in the state after six people died due to the mosquito-borne disease, a Minister said here on Tuesday.

A high level six-member health team led by National Health Mission Tripura Director Sailesh Kumar Yadav on Tuesday visited many malaria affected areas and asked health centres and hospitals to further outreach their services in the remote and tribal areas.

"In 2014, around 96 people including children died due to malaria in Tripura. The situation though similar to 2014, due to timely intervention by the doctors, so far six people have died during the past one month," Health and Family Welfare Minister Sudip Roy Barman told the media.

"To check the outbreak of malaria, around 4,300 health camps were held in the state this year. Blood samples of around one lakh people have been tested and of them, 7,048 tested positive."

The Minister said that some people influenced by superstitious beliefs especially in tribal areas, do not visit health centres and hospitals.

Over 1.80 lakh Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLIN) would be distributed in the malaria prone mountainous Dhalai district.

The LLIN were provided by the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme.

Malaria poses a major public health problem in the hilly northeastern states of Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Assam and Manipur.

According to the records of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, around 200 people died of malaria in the country last year.

--IANS

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