Malaria Prevalence in Forest and Nonforest Areas of Kokrajhar District of Assam

Abstract

An analysis of malaria prevalence and its trends in Kokrajhar district of Assam over the last ten years starting from 2001 to 2010 shows that the occurrence of malaria in the forest area is significantly higher than in the nonforest area (). The transmission of malaria parasite takes place through only two Plasmodium species of P. falciparum (PF) and P. vivax (PV) in both the forest and nonforest areas of the district, and the prevalence of P. falciparum has been found higher. The annual blood examination rate (ABER) is relatively lower in forest area than the nonforest area while annual parasite incidence (API) of the former was much higher. Nearly one-third of the population of the district is under high risk of being affected. The malaria API and forest cover of the district during the period are negatively correlated with a coefficient of −0.57. Special measures are necessary to contain the transmission of malaria in forest area.