Understanding Malaria Incidence and Associations on the Advent of the Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals- The Rohingyas in Bangladesh

Background & objectives: Malaria is a plasmodial infectious disease in the tropical and subtropical region including Bangladesh. The country’s malaria programme sets 2030 by which the disease will be eliminated nationally. Malaria incidences in the country persist with unsteady and clustered case patterns posing uncertainties in eliminating the disease. This review aimed to investigate into malaria situation in Bangladesh with regard to case incidences, associations, and the risk factors on the advent of the Rohingyas from Myanmar in the country. This is to offer an integrated and comprehensive strategy of combating malaria while underpinning the implications, challenges, and pathways in the country’s malaria elimination efforts. Methods: The relevant published studies from different sources, online (google scholar, etc.) and offline (libraries) were explored and consulted. Malaria situation in both peacetime and humanitarian crisis settings in and around the country were analyzed. Results: In recent past, Bangladesh has significantly reduced both malaria case and death incidences. Still, there are some challenges especially in the remote and hard to reach border lined areas that undergo humanitarian emergencies intermittently. The forested hotspots of the disease there potentially act as transmission reservoir on the back of the diverse species specific vectorial, plasmodial, and poor surveillance provisions in many instances. Interpretation & conclusion: Success in eliminating malaria in the country apparently rests on removing the potential sources of infection- the reservoirs, and disrupting its transmission pathways through intervening the infective and/or infected mosquito bites in and around the areas of epidemiological concerns in the country.