Epidemiology of malaria in Chhattisgarh, India: a surveillance data analysis, 2015-2023

India accounts for two-thirds of the malaria burden in Southeast Asia. We described the lab-confirmed malaria cases under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme in Chhattisgarh, India, from 2015 to 2023.

We conducted a surveillance data analysis by abstracting the lab-confirmed malaria cases from five regions of Chhattisgarh from January 2015 to December 2023. We estimated the annual parasite incidence (API) by region and year. We estimated the incidence rate ratio (IRR) with a 95% CI over the years using a generalized estimating equation in Stata 16.0.

A total of 391 387 malaria cases were reported from 2015 to 2023. API ranged from 0.4-3.2 per 1000 population with an annual decline of 25% (IRR:0.75; 95% CI 0.71 to 0.79). Cases peaked in July (monsoon season) and November. Incidence was consistently higher in Chhattisgarh's Bastar (IRR:12.5; 95% CI 3.7 to 43.0) and Surguja regions (IRR:7.4; 95% CI 2.0 to 27.4) compared with the central region.

Southern districts of Chhattisgarh consistently documented increased incidence over the years. We recommend strengthening the implementation of the vector control measures starting in May. Further research should be conducted to identify the reasons for the high malaria incidence in southern Chhattisgarh.