Hr Proposal for Malaria Elimination

Human Resources need and HR management for Malaria elimination drive and management of other Vector Borne Diseases in Odisha

Introduction:

Malaria is a long-standing public health problem in Odisha. It has been reported as the 6th most important cause of premature mortality among both sexes in the state and alone accounts for 3.1% of the total disease burden (due to all causes) in Odisha, in DALY estimates. With about 3.5 lakh malaria cases in 2017, Odisha contributed to more than 40% of the annual malaria burden in India and nearly one-third of the regional malaria burden in South-East Asia, where rural and remote populations in particular are plagued by this ancient scourge.

Odisha has made significant stride in reducing the malaria burden in recent years. The malaria burden in the state has come down drastically following the strategic public health intervention with large scale LLIN (1.13 crore) added with Odisha’s flagship programme, Durgama Anchalare Malaria Nirakaran (DAMAN). The total number of malaria cases have come down by more than 84% and malaria deaths have been brought down to single digit within a period of only within one and half year from 2017 to 2018. Odisha’s success has been a game changer in India’s fight against malaria and the state’s initiative has been lauded in this year’s World Malaria Report launch by the World Health Organization (WHO) at Maputo, Mozambique on 19th November, 2018. However, sustaining the this huge gain is a critical challenge as malaria elimination requires intensification of programmatic efforts and surveillance with holistic commitment from all levels of human resources, engaged for the malaria fight. Experiences from India’s malaria programme show that momentary success could not be sustained and translated into malaria elimination in 1960s. More recently, the tide of decline in malaria burden has reversed in African nations after initial success for a few years till 2016. The state of Odisha has also experienced a similar challenge in recent past when malaria cases increased in 2014 after initial successes through Mo-Mashari campaign and other intensified efforts. At this outset, sustainability strategies are critical to ensure that Odisha continues to succeed in the fight against malaria and ultimately reaches the vision of a malaria-free state.

Human resource need and Human resource management (HRM) is a major strategic approach under the broader public health strategies to create any sustainable mechanism. HRM is required for judicious utilization of human resource in an organization, so that they provide support to the programme to gain maximum advantage. For Odisha to succeed in its goal of malaria elimination, the human resource (HR) need is to be designed in sync with the national malaria elimination strategies and aligned with Odisha’s success model of reducing malaria recently. At the