Vector-borne diseases: Prevalence, impacts, and strategies to address disease burden and threats

Abstract

India and sub-Saharan Africa are accounted for almost 80% of the vector borne disease (VBD) cases reported globally according to a recent WHO report. According to a WHO assessment, 1.25 billion individuals in India are at risk of contracting VBD. India is one of the countries where high treatment failure rates are evident but this can be responded by effective implementation of the vector control strategies (VCS). VCS such as the suppression of vector populations via physical, biological, microbiological, chemical is vital for drop in VBDs. As new drug development is a slow and costly process, the need of the hour is to suppress the vector population by implementing those strategies which are rationale, reasonable and can easily be implemented in India. In this article, we review the current knowledge and potential impacts, prevalence; various control strategy and their applicability on mosquito as well as VBD in India.