+1 (629)348-3199ANALYSIS OF HISTORICAL TRENDS AND RECENT ELIMINATION OF MALARIA FROM SRI LANKA AND ITS APPLICABILITY FOR MALARIA CONTROL IN OTHER COUNTRIES
4th International Conference on Tropical Medicine, Infectious Diseases & Public Health
September 7-8, 2017 | Edinburgh, Scotland
Ranjan Ramasamy
ID-FISH Technology Inc., USA
Scientific Tracks Abstracts : J Parasit Dis Diagn Ther
Abstract:
Sri Lanka is a tropical island located South of India in the Indian Ocean. Malaria has been prevalent in the island for centuries but the country succeeded in eliminating the disease in 2012. Factors governing the past endemicity of malaria and its successful elimination from Sri Lanka in 2012 are analyzed. There is evidence that malaria might have been first introduced in the 13th century into a dry zone area with extensive irrigation works. Regular widespread epidemics of the disease have been documented in the 20th century. The island nature of Sri Lanka, generally low transmission rates, widespread and accessible government hospitals and clinics that provide free and readily available diagnosis and treatment for malaria, adequate financial support and commitment to the Anti-Malaria Campaign (AMC), national and decentralized malaria control efforts sustained over a long period by dedicated and competent AMC staff, and the absence of zoonotic malaria are recognized as key factors responsible for eliminating malaria from Sri Lanka. These factors are analyzed in the context of their relevance to the present malaria elimination efforts in other countries with the overall aim of globally eradicating the disease.
Biography:
Ranjan Ramasamy graduated from the University of Cambridge, UK and then obtained a PhD also from the University of Cambridge. He has since held academic appointments in the UK and abroad including Australia, Sri Lanka and the USA. He was the Chairman of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka, Professor of Life Sciences at the Institute of Fundamental Studies in Kandy in Sri Lanka, Professor of Biochemistry in the University of Jaffna in Jaffna Sri Lanka, Professor of Immunology in the University Brunei Darussalam Medical School and held institute/ university appointments at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla in the USA, University of Nairobi in Kenya, King Faisal University in Dammam in Saudi Arabia, the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Australia, Anglia Ruskin University in England and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in England. He has more than 200 publications in fields pertaining to Medical Sciences.
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