Malaria
Malaria is produced by 4 species of the protozoal parasite Plasmodium, is endemic in many tropical countries. It is one of the most common health problems. As per latest WHO estimates (2011)* between 149 and 274 (median 216) million clinical cases and ~ 0.655 million deaths occur globally due to malaria each year, 90% of which are in Africa. This amounts to one malaria death every minute. In India, the National Malaria Eradication Programme (NMEP), started in 1958, achieved near complete disappearance of the disease in 1960s (from 75 million cases in 1950s to 0.1 million cases in 1960s).