The Department of Health and Family Welfare in Mysuru is now roping in teachers who will be performing the role of a “anti-malaria nodal officer” to educate schoolchildren about the disease and its prevention in a bid to eliminate malaria fully from the district.
No indigenous case of malaria has been reported in Mysuru district since 2017. However, the department aims to continuously ensure “zero” malaria cases as it considers zero case every year is an achievement and speaks about their efforts in containing the disease.
Amidst the observance of anti-malaria month in June, the government has asked the Health Department to appoint a teacher in every school (mostly from government schools) as a nodal officer on malaria and train them so that they could spread the message through their students. A teacher in every school within the limits of a primary health centre (PHC) will be roped in and they would be recognised as Trainers of Trainees (ToTs).
“Acting on the government circular, we have started the process of identifying the teachers and a note in this regard is being sent to the Department of Public Instruction for further action from its side. By June 10, the process will be completed and the ToTs will be trained. All these years we have been carrying out awareness drives in schools and colleges. This time, the government has thought of making one of them as the stakeholder in the fight against malaria,” said Chidambar, District Vector-borne Diseases Control Officer, Mysuru.
Mysuru district has 156 PHCs and 10 CHCs and a teacher in schools in PHC and CHCs limits will be roped in as the nodal officer for that particular school and spread malaria prevention awareness all through the year.
Dr. Chidambar told The Hindu that the malaria prevention has been a priority programme and those suffering from fever, chills, and sweating are subjected to screening. Later, when the person tests negative for malaria, other tests are carried out. Regular screening, house-to-house visits, group visits, field visits are among the drives conducted to ensure control of malaria.
“Some districts in the State have reported malaria cases. We have been getting imported cases of malaria with about five to six cases every year. The active and passive surveillance is underway irrespective of whether there are zero cases or few cases. The protocols are being strictly followed despite the district reporting zero cases since last five years,” he said.
Some cases of malaria tend to be harmful if not treated properly. The treatment varies from three days to 14 days. In some rare cases, it results in cerebral fever though the percentage of such cases was less than 3 to 5 per cent. Also, there are possibilities of recurrence of the disease, he explained.
Giving credit to the long-standing efforts of the department for zero malaria cases since 2017 in Mysuru district, Dr. Chidambar said the zero malaria cases was the result of the hard work of the department and its staff since it took cases seriously and undertook measures for containing the outbreak with aggressive surveillance and monitoring.
