Chemically treated mosquito nets to fight Malaria in Manipur

Chemically treated mosquito nets popularly known as Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs), promoted by WHO to counter malaria has helped the Manipur government to fight the tropical disease in the state, officials said on Saturday.

Manipur government has set a target to achieve "zero malaria status" in 2021, nine-years ahead of the national target of eliminating the tropical disease by 2030, the officials said.

"LLINs which are given free of cost by the Geneva- based Global Fight Against AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM)" is one of the most essential "malaria elimination programme", State Malaria Officer, Thangpa Serto told PTI.

He said these "insecticide incorporated nets" last for at least three to five years and are distributed by GFATM as per the requirements.

An official said 3,84,348 LLINs were distributed in 2016 and 5,64,572 will be distributed by 2020."
Serto said the malaria elimination campaign pursued by the state malaria office includes intensive ongoing "awareness campaign" wherein locals are informed that "early diagnosis is best away to safeguard from the vector-borne disease."