title: Malaria situation in India with special reference to tribal areas.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In India, malaria is a major public health problem in States having predominantly tribal population. The objective of this analysis was to find out the incidence of malaria in various States/districts having varied proportions of tribal population using National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) data.
  
  
  METHODS
  States and districts were classified into three categories based on proportions of Scheduled Tribes (ST) population as <10, 10-29.9 and 30 per cent + ST population. Five year average (2008-2012) of all important malaria indicators collected by NVBDCP was taken to normalize the effect of annual fluctuations in malaria incidence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  State level analysis revealed that ten States/UTs with 30 per cent or more tribal population comprising only three per cent of total population, contributed 14 per cent of total malaria, 21 per cent Plasmodium falciparum and 29 per cent of deaths due to malaria. Similarly, district level analysis showed that districts with 30 per cent or more tribal population comprising about eight per cent country's population contributed to 46 per cent of total malaria cases, 70 per cent P. falciparum and 47 per cent malarial deaths in the country.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our analysis showed that the neglect of the ethnic communities in tribal areas would be detrimental to the overall reduction of morbidity and mortality due to malaria. The fight against the increasing burden of malaria in tribal belt requires adoption of multiple approaches and socio-economic development of the tribal communities.
authors.forename: Ravendra K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Thakor
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Sonal
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Dhariwal
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Research in Tribal Health (ICMR), Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Neeru
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007303:Insect Vectors; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D010966:Plasmodium vivax / Q000472:pathogenicity; D044382:Population Groups