Reported by: Emon CRWE Newswire Middle East correspondent.

An investigation conducted by Canadian scientists, found that the incidents of malaria in India is a much greater problem than previously known. According to BBC recent estimates, the country has more than 200,000 people infected, and the percentage of deaths is three times higher than the WHO statistics show. World wide deaths from Malaria are over one million fatalities a year and 90 percent of them are in Africa.

In India most people die at home without any medical involvement and the cause of death is not often established. However, field researchers began gathering new statistics; research was carried out through a “verbal autopsy”, personally interviewing families of the deceased. The scientists went directly to the families and asked them to describe how their relative died.

The research has found 122,000 premature preschooler deaths attributable to the period 2001-2003 alone. The data obtained implies that each year 205,000 Malaria related deaths occurred, but mostly in rural areas. Meanwhile the WHO has been stating that in 2006, the number of people who died due to malaria was 10,000-21,000. Their numbers are far short of the real death rate.

The Indian Health Protection Agency has endorsed efforts to more adequately assess the scale of the Malaria epidemic in India. The UN head of the international malaria programs, Dr Robert Newman, said that it is really important to determine the cause of death and if there are different diseases involved, different strategies for their control should be undertaken. However, he believes that the verbal autopsy is not too reliable of a method for counting deaths, and for determining their cause, because the symptoms of malaria are similar to other common infections occurring with an acute fever. But the authors of this research expressed the need to take urgent action and to completely review the situation and status of the epidemic.

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