PANAJI
Goa is close to being declared malaria-free and Health officials expect certification by the end of the current (2026‘27) financial year, more than four decades after the mosquito-borne disease caused havoc in the State in the mid-1980s and '90s.
Dr Kalpana Mahatme, Deputy Director who heads the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme in Goa, made the statement in Panaji during World Malaria Day event.
North Goa Collector Ankit Yadav, IAS, Dr Manish Gaunekar, Shubhada Pednekar and other officials attended.
Dr Mahatme said no indigenous malaria cases have been reported in Goa in recent years. Since 2018, the State has recorded zero malaria deaths and all current cases are limited to migrant workers, mainly in the construction sector.
The health department conducts checks at construction sites, jetties and hotels. Screening drives are also held in migrant settlements. When infections are found, the workers’ home States are informed.
Goa’s malaria incidence rate has been zero per thousand population since 2022. The State has submitted a proposal to the Centre for malaria-free certification and Central officials inspected South Goa earlier this month and expressed satisfaction.
"Certification is expected soon," Mahatme said, adding that the PMO has sought details of Goa’s malaria control efforts with the initiatives likely to be mentioned in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming Mann Ki Baat broadcast.
Goa had faced severe malaria outbreaks in the 1980s and 1990s coinciding with the construction boom in its cities then. Public health systems were under pressure and several lives were lost to the lethal 'falciparum' strain of the virus.
If certification is granted, Goa will be officially malaria-free, marking a significant public health achievement.
