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PAKISTAN logged 1.8m malaria cases last year, revealing that sustained preparedness is not on the government’s priority list.
The disease, preventable but potentially fatal, is registering a worrying rise in Sindh: out of the 10,033 patients screened on a single day, 916 tested positive.
The highest figure of 410 emerged from the Hyderabad division and 208 in Larkana. While there are four human malaria parasites, doctors say this is a vivax malaria spread due to relapse among patients who halt treatment once the fever subsides.
The reasons remain obvious — the vector-borne illness persists where poverty, climate shocks and poor healthcare render medical care a privilege instead of a right. Meanwhile, doctors in Karachi maintain the city’s patient caseload is much higher than what is documented. Some 25 cases are reported weekly, including a few dengue cases.
