India ranked fourth in global malaria cases in 2017: Lancet report

India ranked fourth in the global incidence of the deadly mosquito-borne disease malaria in 2017, with four per cent of the cases worldwide reported in the country, according to a report published in The Lancet journal.

Of the 219 million cases of malaria reported globally in 2017, nearly 10 million were from India, making it the fourth most affected by the disease -- only behind the African countries Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mozambique, the report said.

The report was compiled by more than 40 experts including malariologists, biomedical scientists, economists, and health policy experts, assimilating existing evidence with new epidemiological and financial analyses.

The authors used new modelling techniques and estimated how prevalent and intense malaria could be in 2030 and 2050.

Their analyses indicated that socioeconomic and environmental trends, together with improved coverage of current malaria interventions, will "lead to low levels of malaria that persist in pockets across roughly ten countries in equatorial Africa in 2050."
The Lancet report also cautions that for successful elimination of Malaria in India, there should be "oversight and stewardship of both formal and informal private health-care providers."