Rawalpindi: Heavy rains and floods have increased the malariogenic potential of the country in both urban and rural areas and according to health experts, the threat of spread of malaria looms large in flood-hit areas even in major cities including the twin cities.
Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by a parasite transmitted to humans by the bites of infected anopheles mosquitoes. The stagnant water in flood-hit areas provides ideal breeding sites for anopheles mosquitoes while a huge number of people displaced into temporary camps lacking proper sanitation causes a rapid spread of the disease resulting in tremendous increase in the number of malaria cases.
Malaria, which is a preventable and curable infection, causes more than 50,000 deaths in the country, mostly in infants, children and pregnant women every year.
Various studies reveal that malaria is the second most prevalent and devastating disease of the country. Approximately 60 percent of the population lives in areas where the disease is endemic, and the risk of malaria transmission would be much higher in these areas after the floods, as receding floodwaters would leave behind vast pools of stagnant water.
According to the experts, factors contributing to the high burden of malaria in Pakistan are low coverage of effective interventions, changing disease’s epidemiology, drug and insecticide resistance in parasites and vectors and insufficient case management skills at healthcare delivery levels.
Experts say the poor irrigation network coupled with population growth and haphazard urbanisation together with deteriorating sanitary conditions and environmental hazards like heavy rains, floods have already increased the risk of malaria transmission to a greater extent.
Malaria during pregnancy may cause spontaneous abortion, premature birth, stillbirth and intrauterine growth retardation. Risk of contracting the disease is greater in the evening and night because mosquitoes are active from dusk to dawn. Malaria in Pakistan is epidemiologically unstable though peak transmission occurs in the post monsoon months, from August to November.
The key interventions to control malaria, according to the experts, include early diagnosis and prompt treatment of cases, universal coverage of all people with risk, use of long-lasting insecticide treated bed nets (LLINs) during sleeping, selective indoor residual insecticide spray (IRS) in high risk communities and elimination of mosquito breeding sites (source reduction) by drainage, filling of waste water bodies with earth, cleaning of drains and clearing of vegetation etc.
Experts believe that the risk of death from severe malaria is greatest in the first 24 hours. It is therefore very important that health care providers at the first level of contact of the patient initiate appropriate anti-malarial treatment. If malaria is suspected and the decision to treat is made, then a full effective treatment is required whether or not the diagnosis is confirmed by a test.
Published in The News on September 08, 2025.
