%D %0 ARTICLE %T Malaria resurgence in India : a critical study . %J %V 22 ( 8 ) %P 835-45 %A Sharma VP %A Mehrotra KN %M pub3749959 %X In 1953 , the Indian National Malaria Control Programme ( NMCP ) was started . Encouraged by the results , and the fact that insecticide resistance in vector species may evolve and become an obstacle , in 1958 a control programme was converted to the National Malaria Eradication Programme ( NMEP ) . By 1964 , malaria was eradicated from 88% of the area and it was in the advanced stage of spraying in the remaining parts . At that time , focal outbreaks that occurred in 1965 and increased in later years , could not be contained due to the shortages of DDT . As a result , large areas in consolidation and maintenance phases were reverted to the attack phase . Besides , the infrastructure in general health services was not adequate and mature enough to take up surveillance and vigilance . This produced a large number of secondary cases due to the re-introduction and relapse of malaria . Added to this was the problem of urban malaria , the control of which was the responsibility of local bodies . Malaria cases increased in towns , and started diffusing to the rural areas , due to inadequate staff and the shortages of malarial larvicidal oil ( MLO ) . Later , it turned out , that while it was technically feasible to eradicate malaria from 91% of the population , the strategy of indoor spraying of DDT to interrupt transmission did not succeed in 9 . 0% of the population , despite more than 12-14 years of regular spraying . During the years of resurgence , there was no research support to the programme , so that technical problems were not properly appreciated , understood and tackled . The reservoir of parasites that were present throughout the country started multiplying and spreading to newer areas due to the presence of vectors in high densities . Thus malaria resurged and re-established itself even in areas that were at one time freed from the disease . The analysis of the pattern of malaria resurgence revealed that malaria outbreaks preceded the true problem of insecticide resistance . It is noteworthy to mention that malaria resurgence occurred in towns where the control measures were non-insecticidal and in regions which were not under the influence of insecticide-resistant vectors . The study also revealed that resurgence occurred before the introduction of high-yielding varieties programme in the country , and had no relationship to either the cotton or rice growing or intensive agriculture .