An Epidemiological Assessment of Malaria Cases in Udalguri District of Assam with Special Emphasis on Intensified Malaria Control Project (2008 to 2017)

Abstract Udalguri district of Assam, North East India is endemic to malaria. There is a high prevalence of vector-borne diseases in this part of Assam, including malaria. In the present study, an epidemiological assessment was carried out for the period of 2008 to 2017 to understand the prevalence of malaria in the district in accordance with Intensified Malaria Control Project, Government of India. The databases for the study were collected from district NVBDCP unit under the establishment of Joint Director of Health Services, Udalguri. All the data were analyzed using Microsoft excel in statistical method (P≤0.05). The study found that the annual parasite index (API) drastically declined from 14.54 to 1.24 cases per 1000 population during 2008 to 2017. Among all the positive cases, two plasmodium species, Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax were found to be the major species followed by some mixed infection. The malaria cases caused by P. vivax were more (68.5%) than P. falciparum (31.5%). The disease prevalence by P. vivax cases are significantly decreased from 12.06 cases per 1000 population in 2008 to 0.28 cases per 1000 population in 2017. Similarly the P. falciparum cases also declined from 3.94 cases per 1000 population in 2008 to 0.96 cases per 1000 population in 2017. The decrease of disease prevalence of malaria cases may be because of effective implementation of vector and disease control strategies. The transmission starts from April onwards and reach peak during the month of June & July. LLINs were found to be effective strategies to control & prevent the disease transmission.