Chandigarh, December 12 – In Haryana, there has been a decline in cases of Malaria, Chikungunya and Japanese Encephalitis as compared to last year. No case of Chikungunya has been reported during the year 2013.
Principal Secretary, Health, Mrs. Navraj Sandhu gave this information in Annual Action Plan meeting for Programme Implementation Plan (PIP) 2014-15 of nine State and Union Territories today. The meeting was organized by the office of Director Health Services (Malaria), Haryana in collaboration with National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), New Delhi.
The Planning Officers and Regional Directors of nine states namely Haryana, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh took part in this meeting and presented their views.
Expressing concern over cases of dengue and malaria, Mrs. Sandhu said that there is a need to create awareness among masses regarding safety measures and precautionary measures to curb the number of such cases in future. She urged the officers to give full information to people about the causes and symptoms of these diseases and to launch awareness campaigns to make people aware.
She said that health workers have been given training to control malaria in the State. Apart from this, they have been given training to examine malaria through microscopy test.
In the meeting, it was apprised that there were 26,819 cases of Malaria, two of Chikungunya and seven cases of Japanese Encephalitis in the State during last year whereas 14,308 cases of Malaria and two cases of Japanese Encephalitis have come to notice during this year and no case of Chikungunya has been reported. Maximum number of cases of Malaria has been reported in Bhiwani, Hisar, Karnal, Sirsa and Yamunanagar.
Additional Director, NVBDCP, New Delhi, Dr. G.S. Sonal also expressed her views regarding precautions and safety measures for Malaria in the meeting.
Director, Malaria, Health Services, Dr. Kamla Singh also spoke on this occasion and gave information about the efforts being made by the department to create awareness regarding prevention of Vector Borne Diseases. She also thanked Planning Officers and Regional Directors of nine states who were present in the meeting.