Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites that are spread by the bite of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. In India the two main types are Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum; falciparum causes most severe cases and deaths. Symptoms include fever with chills, headache, and body ache, and early testing and treatment are essential.

What did Ronald Ross discover in India?

On 20 August 1897, while working as an army doctor in Secunderabad, Ronald Ross found malaria parasites in the stomach of an Anopheles mosquito that had fed on a malaria patient, proving that mosquitoes transmit malaria. He later worked out the full cycle in birds in Calcutta and won the Nobel Prize in 1902. 20 August is now observed as World Mosquito Day.

How was quinine used in India?

Quinine, made from the bark of the cinchona tree, was the main malaria medicine for centuries. Cinchona plantations were started in the Nilgiris and near Darjeeling in the 1860s, and from the 1890s cheap packets of quinine were sold through post offices so that villagers could buy the medicine easily.

What was the National Malaria Eradication Programme?

India began the National Malaria Control Programme in 1953 with DDT spraying inside houses, and in 1958 converted it into the National Malaria Eradication Programme. Cases fell from an estimated 7.5 crore a year around independence to about one lakh in 1965, with no reported deaths, but malaria later came back.

Why did malaria come back in the 1970s?

Malaria returned because mosquitoes became resistant to DDT, spraying and surveillance weakened as money and insecticide ran short, parasites began resisting chloroquine, and new irrigation, construction, and city growth created more breeding places. Reported cases rose to about 64 lakh in 1976.

What is the Urban Malaria Scheme?

The Urban Malaria Scheme was started in 1971 to control malaria in towns and cities, where the Anopheles stephensi mosquito breeds in water tanks, wells, coolers, and construction sites. Instead of spraying houses, it relies on anti-larval measures such as larvicides, larva-eating fish, removing stagnant water, and building bye-laws.

What was the Modified Plan of Operation?

The Modified Plan of Operation, introduced in April 1977, changed the goal from eradication to control. It focused spraying on areas with high malaria, set up drug distribution centres and fever treatment depots in villages, and aimed to prevent deaths and reduce illness, and it brought cases down sharply within a few years.

The National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), formed in 2003–04, brings together India’s programmes against diseases spread by mosquitoes and sandflies — malaria, dengue, chikungunya, Japanese encephalitis, lymphatic filariasis, and kala-azar. It runs testing, treatment, bed nets, spraying, and surveillance through states and districts.

What is the National Framework for Malaria Elimination?

The National Framework for Malaria Elimination 2016–2030 was launched in February 2016. It groups states by malaria burden and aims to end local transmission in all states and union territories, reach zero indigenous cases across India by 2027, and prevent malaria from returning so that India can be certified malaria-free by 2030.

How can families protect themselves from malaria?

Sleep under an insecticide-treated bed net, empty or cover water containers and coolers every week, allow indoor spraying, wear full-sleeved clothes in the evening, and get a blood test quickly for any fever. Complete the full course of treatment given by a health worker or doctor.

Health Timeline

Malaria Control Timeline of India: Quinine → DDT Spraying → Urban Malaria Scheme → Modified Plan → Bed Nets & Rapid Tests → Elimination Targets

Malaria has been one of India’s oldest and biggest killers. The mosquito link was proved in Secunderabad in 1897, DDT spraying nearly wiped out the disease by 1965, and then it roared back. India responded with the Urban Malaria Scheme in 1971, a new plan in 1977, and later rapid tests, bed nets, and village health workers — and since 2016 it has followed a national framework to eliminate malaria by 2030.

This timeline covers vishama jwara in Ayurveda, cinchona plantations, post-office quinine, Ronald Ross, the Malaria Institute of India, DDT spraying, NMCP and NMEP, resistance and resurgence, the Urban Malaria Scheme, larva-eating fish, the Modified Plan of Operation, NVBDCP, ASHAs, rapid diagnostic tests, artemisinin combination therapy, long-lasting bed nets, Odisha’s DAMaN, and the National Framework for Malaria Elimination 2016–2030.

1897 Mosquito Link → 1953 DDT Spraying 1971 Urban Malaria Scheme → 1977 Modified Plan 2016 Elimination Framework → 2030 Goal

Why the Story of Malaria Control Matters

Unlike smallpox or polio, malaria cannot be stopped with a single vaccine campaign. It depends on mosquitoes, water, weather, housing, forests, and the movement of people, so India has had to change its strategy again and again. Its story shows how science, insecticides, medicines, health workers, and clean surroundings together can push back a disease that once infected crores of Indians every year.

Big picture

India’s fight against malaria in one view

Quinine was the only defence until Ross proved the mosquito link in 1897. DDT spraying from 1953 nearly eradicated malaria by 1965, resistance brought it back in the 1970s, the Urban Malaria Scheme and Modified Plan targeted cities and high-risk areas, rapid tests and bed nets reached villages after 2003, and the 2016 framework set the goal of a malaria-free India by 2030. Related timelines: water facility, irrigation, research in India.

1897

Mosquito link proved in Secunderabad

7.5 crore

Estimated yearly cases at independence

1971

Urban Malaria Scheme begins

2030

Target for a malaria-free India

Split image with a sepia 1950s spray worker in khaki pumping a brass hand sprayer at the mud wall of a thatched hut while villagers watch on the left, and a smiling health worker in a sari doing a finger-prick rapid blood test on a boy held by his mother, with a test cassette, a tablet, and a folded blue bed net on the right — From spraying mud walls with DDT to a rapid finger-prick test at home (artistic illustration).

Malaria Control in India Then vs Now at a Glance

Feature	Then	Now
Scale	Crores of cases a year	A few lakh reported cases a year
Medicine	Bitter quinine powder	Chloroquine, primaquine, and artemisinin combinations
Diagnosis	Guessing from fever and chills	Rapid test in minutes and microscopy
Mosquito control	Oil on ponds, then DDT on walls	Targeted spraying, larvicides, and fish
At night	Cotton nets for a few; smoke for most	Free long-lasting insecticidal nets in high-risk areas
Cities	Few special measures	Urban Malaria Scheme and building bye-laws
Who helps	Doctors in towns	ASHAs, multipurpose workers, and village volunteers
Records	Paper registers	Digital case reporting and mapping
Goal	Reduce illness	Zero indigenous cases and certification
Research	A few colonial labs	National institutes and Indian vaccine research

🌿 QuinineBefore 1947

Fevers, Quinine & Ross’s Discovery

For centuries Indians suffered from recurring fevers with chills, blamed on “bad air” from marshes. Quinine from cinchona bark became the main medicine, and plantations grew it in the hills. In 1897 an army doctor in Secunderabad proved that mosquitoes spread malaria, opening the door to fighting the insect as well as the fever.

Sepia 1890s laboratory where a British army doctor in a waistcoat looks through a brass microscope at a wooden table with glass slides, a sketch-filled notebook, and a kerosene lamp, while an Indian assistant in a white turban holds up a muslin-covered glass jar of mosquitoes, with domed buildings visible through the window — An army doctor and his assistant study mosquitoes in a Secunderabad laboratory (artistic illustration).

Ancient India: The Charaka Samhita and other Ayurvedic texts describe vishama jwara, irregular fevers with chills, and link some fevers to seasons and marshy areas.
1860s–1890s: Cinchona plantations are started in the Nilgiris and near Darjeeling, and from the 1890s cheap packets of quinine are sold through post offices in villages.
20 August 1897: Ronald Ross finds malaria parasites in an Anopheles mosquito in Secunderabad, proving mosquitoes spread malaria, and wins the Nobel Prize in 1902.
1909–1938: A malaria conference is held at Shimla (1909), the Malaria Survey of India is formed (1927), and it becomes the Malaria Institute of India (1938); at independence India has an estimated 7.5 crore cases a year.

Technology

Quinine: From cinchona bark.
Microscope: Parasites in blood and mosquitoes.
Oil and drainage: Early larva control.

Features

Post-office quinine: Medicine for villages.
Mosquito link: A world first in India.
Huge burden: Lakhs of deaths a year.

🧴 DDT1947 – 1965

DDT Spraying & the Eradication Dream

After independence, India attacked malaria with DDT, an insecticide that kept killing mosquitoes for months after being sprayed on house walls. Spray teams covered the whole country, surveillance workers took blood smears from fever cases, and within about a decade malaria fell to a tiny fraction of its old level.

1950s village scene in faded colour where spray workers in khaki uniforms and caps with brass pumps and metal buckets spray white insecticide inside a mud house through the doorway, a supervisor writes in a register, and women in saris and children watch beside a charpai and cattle — A spray team treats house walls with DDT while villagers watch (artistic illustration).

1946–1952: Trials show that spraying DDT inside houses sharply reduces malaria, and India begins planning a national programme.
1953: The National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) begins, with teams spraying DDT inside homes across the malaria-affected areas of the country.
1958: The programme becomes the National Malaria Eradication Programme (NMEP), with house-to-house surveillance and blood smears from every fever case.
1965: Reported cases fall to about one lakh a year with no reported deaths, and many people believe malaria will soon disappear from India.

Technology

DDT: Long-lasting indoor spray.
Stirrup pumps: Hand-operated sprayers.
Blood smears: Glass slides for testing.

Features

National spraying: Every affected village.
Fever surveillance: House-to-house visits.
Dramatic fall: Near eradication by 1965.

🏙️ Urban1966 – 1976

Resurgence & the Urban Malaria Scheme

Malaria came back. Mosquitoes became resistant to DDT, insecticide and money ran short, and fast-growing cities offered new breeding places in water tanks, wells, and building sites. In 1971 India launched the Urban Malaria Scheme to fight the city-dwelling Anopheles stephensi mosquito by attacking its larvae in water.

1970s city lane in faded colour where a municipal worker in khaki pours small fish from a steel bucket into an open cement water tank beside a hand pump, while another worker with a hand sprayer treats a roadside drain, with a cycle rickshaw, old buildings, and overhead wires behind — Municipal workers release larva-eating fish and treat drains in a city lane (artistic illustration).

Late 1960s: Cases start rising again as DDT resistance spreads, spraying rounds are missed, and surveillance weakens in many states.
1971: The Urban Malaria Scheme (UMS) begins in towns and cities, using larvicides, larva-eating fish such as Gambusia and guppy, and removal of stagnant water instead of house spraying.
Early 1970s: Chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria is detected in the North-East (1973), and new irrigation and construction projects create more breeding sites.
1976: Reported cases climb to about 64 lakh, one of the highest numbers since the start of the national programme.

Technology

Larvicides: Chemicals for water.
Larva-eating fish: Gambusia and guppy.
Bye-laws: Covered tanks and drains.

Features

City focus: Wells, tanks, and sites.
Resistance: DDT and chloroquine.
Resurgence: Lakhs of cases again.

📋 Plan1977 – 2002

Modified Plan & Targeted Control

India changed its goal from eradication to control. Spraying was focused on high-risk areas, medicines were placed in every village through volunteers, and special projects tackled the deadly falciparum malaria of forests and tribal areas. Cases fell quickly, though malaria remained stubborn in the North-East, Odisha, and central India.

1980s village scene in faded colour where a volunteer in a white kurta at a wooden table with a tin of tablets and a register takes a blood smear from the finger of a man wrapped in a shawl, while a health worker in a sari hands tablets to a mother holding a child outside a small brick house, with a bicycle carrying a metal box and paddy fields behind — A village volunteer takes a blood smear and gives tablets at a fever treatment depot (artistic illustration).

April 1977: The Modified Plan of Operation (MPO) sets up drug distribution centres and fever treatment depots in villages, targets spraying by risk, and cuts cases to about 20 lakh by the mid-1980s.
1977: The P. falciparum Containment Programme begins in the North-East and other falciparum-heavy areas to slow the spread of drug-resistant malaria.
1994–1997: Deadly outbreaks in Rajasthan and elsewhere lead to the Malaria Action Programme (1995) and the World Bank–supported Enhanced Malaria Control Project (1997) for tribal districts.
1999: NMEP is renamed the National Anti-Malaria Programme (NAMP), reflecting the shift from eradication to control.

Technology

New insecticides: Malathion and pyrethroids.
Treated nets: Early pilots.
Drug depots: Chloroquine in villages.

Features

Control, not eradication: Realistic goals.
Risk-based spraying: High-burden areas first.
Tribal focus: Forest malaria.

🧪 Tests2003 – 2015

NVBDCP, ASHAs, Rapid Tests & Bed Nets

India combined its programmes against mosquito- and sandfly-borne diseases and brought testing and treatment to the doorstep. Village health workers used rapid diagnostic tests that give a result in about 15 minutes, started effective artemisinin-based medicines on the spot, and handed out long-lasting insecticidal bed nets in high-risk areas.

Rural home interior with mud walls where a health worker in a pink sari with a cloth bag and blue gloves pricks the finger of a woman with fever for a rapid test, with a test cassette, a strip of tablets, and a notebook on the mat and a child sitting nearby — A village health worker tests a fever patient with a rapid diagnostic kit (artistic illustration).

2003–2004: The National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) brings malaria, dengue, Japanese encephalitis, filariasis, and kala-azar (and later chikungunya) under one programme.
2005–2010: The National Rural Health Mission creates ASHA workers, rapid diagnostic tests reach villages, and artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) becomes the treatment for falciparum malaria.
2009–2013: Long-lasting insecticidal nets are distributed in high-burden districts, and bivalent rapid tests that detect both vivax and falciparum are introduced (2013).
2015: India commits at the East Asia Summit to eliminate malaria by 2030, with about 11.7 lakh reported cases that year.

Technology

Rapid tests: Result in minutes.
ACT medicines: Artemisinin combinations.
LLINs: Insecticide lasts years.

Features

Doorstep testing: ASHAs in villages.
Test before treat: No guessing.
One programme: Six vector diseases.

🎯 Elimination2016 – Future

Elimination Targets 2016–2030

In 2016 India moved from controlling malaria to eliminating it. A national framework grouped states by burden and set deadlines, crores of bed nets reached forest and tribal villages, and states like Odisha ran special campaigns in hard-to-reach areas. Reported cases fell steeply, and the focus is now on finding and stopping every last local infection.

Tribal village in forested hills where health workers hand folded blue insecticide-treated bed nets to women in colourful saris holding babies, while a family hangs a blue bed net over a wooden cot on the porch of a thatched hut, with paddy fields and green hills behind — Families in a forest village receive and hang long-lasting insecticidal nets (artistic illustration).

11 February 2016: The National Framework for Malaria Elimination (NFME) 2016–2030 is launched, aiming for zero indigenous cases across India by 2027 and certification by 2030.
2017: The National Strategic Plan for Malaria Elimination 2017–2022 is released, and Odisha starts DAMaN (Durgama Anchalare Malaria Nirakaran) to test and treat people in remote villages.
2018–2022: India joins WHO’s High Burden to High Impact approach, and reported cases fall from about 11.7 lakh in 2015 to under 2 lakh a year by 2020–2022.
2023–2030: A new National Strategic Plan (2023–2027) targets the remaining hotspots, while vaccines, better surveillance, and heat and climate planning prepare for the 2030 goal.

Technology

Case mapping: Digital surveillance.
Malaria vaccines: New tools emerging.
Mass nets: Crores distributed.

Features

State categories: Targets by burden.
Hotspot focus: Forest and tribal areas.
2030 goal: Malaria-free India.

India’s Malaria Programmes at a Glance

Programme	Year	Main focus
Malaria Institute of India	1938	Research and training
National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP)	1953	DDT spraying inside homes
National Malaria Eradication Programme (NMEP)	1958	Spraying plus house-to-house surveillance
Urban Malaria Scheme (UMS)	1971	Anti-larval work in towns and cities
Modified Plan of Operation (MPO)	1977	Control, village drug depots, risk-based spraying
P. falciparum Containment Programme	1977	Falciparum and drug resistance in the North-East
Malaria Action Programme	1995	High-risk areas after outbreaks
Enhanced Malaria Control Project	1997	Tribal and high-burden districts
National Anti-Malaria Programme (NAMP)	1999	New name for the national programme
National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme	2003–04	Malaria with five other vector-borne diseases
National Framework for Malaria Elimination	2016	Elimination by 2030
National Strategic Plans	2017 and 2023	Step-by-step elimination targets

Malaria Cases in India Over the Years

Approximate figures from national reports and historical estimates. Reported cases are lower than the true number of infections, and figures in different sources can vary.

Sepia early 1900s cinchona plantation on misty terraced hill slopes where workers in turbans and saris strip bark from young trees and spread it on long bamboo drying racks, with a tin-roofed plantation bungalow and tall trees in the background — Cinchona bark dries on a hill plantation — quinine was India’s main defence when cases ran into crores (artistic illustration).

Year	Cases	What was happening
Around 1947	About 7.5 crore (estimate)	Around 8 lakh deaths a year estimated
1965	About 1 lakh	Near eradication; no reported deaths
1976	About 64 lakh	Peak of the resurgence
Mid-1980s	About 20 lakh	Modified Plan brings cases down
2015	About 11.7 lakh	Elimination commitment made
2018	About 4.3 lakh	Bed nets and Odisha’s DAMaN
2020–2022	Under 2 lakh a year	Steep fall continues

National Framework for Malaria Elimination 2016–2030

The framework measures malaria with the annual parasite incidence (API) — confirmed cases per 1,000 people per year — and groups states and union territories into categories with different targets.

Category / Target	Meaning
Category 0	No local transmission — prevent malaria from returning
Category 1	API below 1 in the state and all its districts — elimination phase
Category 2	API below 1 in the state but 1 or more in some districts — pre-elimination
Category 3	API of 1 or more — intensified control
By 2027	Zero indigenous cases across India
By 2030	Prevent re-establishment and seek malaria-free certification

Tools Used to Fight Malaria in India

Modern malaria research laboratory where a young woman scientist in a white coat, safety glasses, and blue gloves examines mesh mosquito cages while a male scientist studies a stained blood smear on a digital microscope screen, with racks of vials and test tubes on the bench — Scientists study mosquitoes and malaria parasites in a modern laboratory (artistic illustration).

Tool	Type	What it does
Indoor residual spraying	Vector control	Insecticide on walls kills resting mosquitoes
Long-lasting insecticidal nets	Vector control	Protect sleepers and kill mosquitoes
Larvicides	Vector control	Kill larvae in water that cannot be emptied
Gambusia and guppy fish	Biological control	Eat mosquito larvae in tanks and ponds
Source reduction	Community action	Empty coolers and cover tanks every week
Microscopy	Diagnosis	Blood smear shows the parasite type
Rapid diagnostic test	Diagnosis	Finger-prick result in about 15 minutes
Chloroquine and primaquine	Treatment	Treat vivax malaria and prevent relapse
Artemisinin combination therapy	Treatment	Treats falciparum malaria
Surveillance	Tracking	Finds, reports, and investigates every case
Malaria vaccines	Prevention	New vaccines and Indian vaccine research

Malaria Control in India Timeline Summary

Year / Era	Milestone
Ancient India	Vishama jwara in Ayurvedic texts
1860s	Cinchona plantations in the Nilgiris and near Darjeeling
1890s	Quinine sold through post offices
1897	Ross proves the mosquito link (20 August)
1927	Malaria Survey of India
1938	Malaria Institute of India
1953	National Malaria Control Programme
1958	National Malaria Eradication Programme
1965	About one lakh cases; no reported deaths
1971	Urban Malaria Scheme
1976	Resurgence to about 64 lakh cases
1977	Modified Plan of Operation
1997	Enhanced Malaria Control Project
1999	National Anti-Malaria Programme
2003–04	NVBDCP formed
2005	ASHAs under the National Rural Health Mission
2013	Bivalent rapid diagnostic tests
2016	National Framework for Malaria Elimination (February)
2017	National Strategic Plan; Odisha’s DAMaN
2023	National Strategic Plan 2023–2027
2027	Target: zero indigenous cases
2030	Target: malaria-free India

Timeline understanding Public health Environment Community action

Ask your grandparents whether they remember DDT spray teams, quinine, or mosquito nets from their childhood.
Make a timeline poster: 1897 Ross, 1953 DDT spraying, 1971 Urban Malaria Scheme, 1977 Modified Plan, 2016 elimination framework, and 2030 goal.
Draw the life cycle of the malaria parasite between a mosquito and a human.
Do a “Dry Day” survey at home and school: find and empty coolers, pots, tyres, and containers where water collects.
Explain why DDT stopped working and what insecticide resistance means.
Visit a pond or tank with an adult and find out whether larva-eating fish are used in your area.
Interview an ASHA or health worker about how a rapid malaria test is done.
Compare malaria control in villages and cities, and list the different mosquito breeding places in each.
Prepare a skit for World Malaria Day (25 April) or Anti-Malaria Month (June) on preventing malaria.
Debate: “A vaccine alone can end malaria in India.”

Continue exploring

Malaria is shaped by how India stores water, keeps cool, irrigates its fields, and does research. Explore these connected timelines next.

Water facility timeline Cooling timeline Irrigation timeline Research in India timeline More India timelines All timelines

Moments Through Visual Stories

Click any panel to expand and explore the visual mood.

India’s fight against malaria in pictures — the mosquito laboratory, the cinchona plantation, the DDT spray team, city anti-larval work, the village fever depot, the rapid test at home, bed nets in a forest village, modern research, and then versus now.

Mosquito Link

Secunderabad, 1897

Cinchona

Bark for quinine

DDT Spraying

House walls

Urban Scheme

Fish and larvicides

Fever Depot

Tablets in villages

Rapid Test

Result in minutes

Bed Nets

Forest villages

Research

Towards 2030

Then vs Now

Spray to test

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Disclaimer: This content is AI-generated for educational purposes and may contain errors or outdated details. For correct and authoritative information, please refer to official and reliable sources such as government publications, manufacturers, museums, and academic references.

Malaria Control Timeline of India: Quinine → DDT Spraying → Urban Malaria Scheme → Modified Plan → Bed Nets & Rapid Tests → Elimination Targets

Why the Story of Malaria Control Matters

India’s fight against malaria in one view

Malaria Control in India Then vs Now at a Glance

Fevers, Quinine & Ross’s Discovery

Technology

Features

DDT Spraying & the Eradication Dream

Technology

Features

Resurgence & the Urban Malaria Scheme

Technology

Features

Modified Plan & Targeted Control

Technology

Features

NVBDCP, ASHAs, Rapid Tests & Bed Nets

Technology

Features

Elimination Targets 2016–2030

Technology

Features

India’s Malaria Programmes at a Glance

Malaria Cases in India Over the Years

National Framework for Malaria Elimination 2016–2030

Tools Used to Fight Malaria in India

Malaria Control in India Timeline Summary

Test Your Knowledge

Students Tasks

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Moments Through Visual Stories

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