Comparing Malaria Interventions: India, USA Public Health Strategies

This presentation examines malaria as a critical global public health challenge, focusing on the contrasting approaches of India and the United States. It begins by highlighting the significance of malaria, alongside other diseases like tuberculosis and HIV, as major contributors to the global disease burden, with a specific emphasis on the high morbidity and mortality rates in India. The presentation then evaluates the success of public health interventions in both countries, detailing strategies such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets, indoor residual spraying, and surveillance programs in the USA, compared to enhanced healthcare accessibility and mosquito control methods in India. It also addresses the challenges faced, including socioeconomic factors and community cooperation. The presentation further explores the use of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies in global health research on malaria, assessing their effectiveness and limitations in data collection and analysis. Key characteristics of culturally competent public health approaches are also discussed, emphasizing the importance of addressing the cultural, social, and linguistic needs of affected populations. The presentation concludes by summarizing the need for continued efforts to eradicate malaria, drawing on lessons learned from both countries and suggesting potential strategies for India to improve its control measures.

Global public health
Students Name

Important public health
challenges internationally
• According to the CDC, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV account for the
85% of the global burden of disease
• In 2014, there was an estimated 1.5 million deaths from Tuberculosis.
• In 2013 and 2018, there was an increase in TB cases by 600,000 and
9.6 million respectively
• HIV continues to be a global health concern leading to about 34
million deaths annually
• In 2014, 1,2 million people lost their lives as a result of HIV (Barr et
al., 2016).

Important public health
challenges internationally cont.
……..
• Malaria is significant global health concern
• Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease that can be prevented and
treated
• The most vulnerable population to this disease are the children under
5 years, the old and people with low immunity
• Although there is a decline in the rates of malaria, there has been the
emergence of new cases of malaria.
• In 2010, there were about 219million malaria cases with an estimated
660,000 deaths (Vos et al., 2017).

Important public health
challenges internationally cont.
……..
• According to the World Health Organization, compared to other key global health challenges
such HIV and Tuberculosis, Malaria has a high global disease burden as well as high mortality.
• This explains why the public health challenge that I have chosen is Malaria.
• My country of choice is India due to the high morbidity and mortality rates associated with
the disease in the country.
• Malaria has been a huge problem in India for a very long time.
• In India, there are approximately 2 million confirmed cases of malaria with an estimated 1000
deaths annually.
• Malaria has significantly affected children and those of economically productive ages leading
to high economic losses.
• The disability-adjusted years lost as a result of malaria in India is 1.86million years (Vos et al.,
2017).

Evaluation of the success of
public health approaches in
India and USA
• The public health approach to infectious diseases such as malaria
include:
i. Reporting, monitoring and surveillance of disease outbreaks
ii. Implementing adequate intervention to prevent the spread of
diseases
iii. Health education to encourage behavior change that can reduce
the risk of an infection
iv. Supporting and organizing community actions (Harris, 2016).

Evaluation of the success of
public health approaches in
India and USA cont.…..
• Key public health approaches that have been used worldwide over
the years to fight malaria include:
i. The use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets
ii. Indoor residual spraying
iii. Larvae source management
iv. House improvement to eliminate malaria (Newby et al., 2016).

Evaluation of the success of
public health approaches in
India and USA cont.…..
• Compared to India, The United States of America has taken many
effective interventions to eradicate malaria
• The National Malaria Eradication Program was introduced to reduce the
prevalence and incidence of malaria.
• The program entailed application of DDT inside the rural homes
• It also involved destroying mosquito breeding sites and spraying of
insecticides
• Once malaria was eradicated, the program was replaced by the CDC to
undertake surveillance to prevent the emergence of Malaria (Winskill,
Slater, Griffin, Ghani& Walker, 2017).

Evaluation of the success of
public health approaches in
India and USA cont.…..
• The Centre For Disease control has numerous functions which include:
• Monitoring of the distribution and frequency of malaria cases
• Offering adequate information to the public and healthcare providers
regarding how to protect oneself from contracting malaria.
• Offering epidemiological assistance and clinical advice on the
prevention, treatment and control of malaria.
• Investigation of the local outbreaks
• Assessing the global antimalarial drug resistance through surveillance of
U.S malaria cases (Mace, Arguin & Tan, 2018).

Evaluation of the success of
public health approaches in
India and USA cont.…..
• On the other hand, the interventions India has taken to reduce the
burden of malaria include:
i. Enhanced accessibility and quality of health care services
ii. Adoption of effective non-insecticide mosquito control methods
iii. Introduction of medicated mosquito net programs
iv. Adoption of epidemic response and intersectoral collaboration
v. Strengthening of the Institutional component to enhance training
and create awareness through campaigns (Wangdi et al., 2016).

Evaluation of the success of
public health approaches in
India and USA cont.…..
• The challenges that have been faced in controlling malaria in India
include:
i. Low socio-economic status
ii. Biological issues
iii. Lack of enough income to implement some interventions
iv. Lack of political and community cooperation in implementing
interventions (Steketee & Nahlen, 2017).

Evaluation of the success of
public health approaches in
India and USA cont.…..
• The success in eradicating malaria can be measured through:
i. The reduction in the new cases of Malaria
ii. Reduced mortality rates from Malaria
iii. Increase in the health services up to marginalized areas
iv. Increased early detection and treatment of the disease .

Evaluation of the success of
public health approaches in
India and USA cont.…..
• The public health approaches have been underpinned by relevant
theoretical approaches
• The approaches have incorporated both the explanatory and change theory
• The explanatory theory has been used to help identify the nature of the
problem (malaria).
• It has also been used to identify the factors that lead to the spread of
Malaria
• The change theory has been used to ensure proper implementation and
development of interventions (Betancourt, Green, Carrillo & Owusu
Ananeh-Firempong, 2016).