The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body for the promotion of biomedical research, has recently started the Malaria Elimination Research Alliance (MERA)- India.
MERA-India is an alliance of partners working on malaria control. The main activity of the association is to prioritise, plan, conduct, scale up and translate relevant research on the population at risk for malaria.
India has been able to bring down the burden of malarial disease by over 80% (2.03 million cases in 2000 to 0.39 million in 2018) and malaria deaths by over 90% (932 deaths in 2000 to 85 in 2018), over the years.
Now the government of India has committed to eliminate malaria in India by 2030. The National Vector Borne
Diseases Control Program (NVBDCP) of India has developed a comprehensive framework to achieve “Malaria free India by 2030”.
MERA India will facilitate trans-institutional coordination and collaboration around a shared research agenda which responds to not only to programmatic challenges and addresses gaps in available tools but also proactively contribute to targeted research. MERA India aims to harness and reinforce research in coordinated and combinatorial ways in order to achieve a tangible impact on malaria elimination, reports said.