Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi

New Delhi, Sep 2: Climate change, deforestation, unplanned urbanisation and inadequate drainage are creating favourable conditions for mosquitoes and other disease-carrying vectors to spread into newer areas of Northeast India, a parliamentary health panel has warned.

In its report on vector-borne diseases in the northeastern states, the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare highlighted the region's challenging terrain, changing rainfall and temperature patterns, rapid urbanisation and gaps in healthcare access as major factors behind the persistence and geographical expansion of such diseases.

The report noted a significant rise in dengue cases across the Northeast. Reported cases increased from 142 in 2014 to 19,761 in 2023, before declining to 7,186 in 2024. The region recorded 1,524 cases up to August 2025, with the panel noting that this was a partial-year figure and therefore not directly comparable with full-year data.

Chikungunya cases also increased from 3,493 in 2023 to 3,991 in 2024, marking a rise of around 14.3%.

The panel said dengue and chikungunya are becoming increasingly urban health concerns, with factors such as rapid urbanisation, water-storage practices, poor waste management, climate change and population movement contributing to their spread.

Sikkim recorded the highest dengue incidence among the northeastern states in 2024, with 374 cases. Based on the state's revised population estimate, the incidence stood at 57.9 cases per lakh population. The state also reported 1,863 chikungunya cases, translating into an incidence of 291.2 cases per lakh.

Malaria, meanwhile, has shown a more encouraging trend nationally, although challenges remain in parts of the Northeast. The number of districts across India with an Annual Parasite Index above one declined from 155 in 2015 to 37 in 2024. In the Northeast, 16 districts in Arunachal Pradesh and six in Nagaland have reported zero indigenous malaria cases for three consecutive years.

Japanese encephalitis continues to remain a concern, particularly in Assam and other northeastern states. The region recorded 885 cases in 2024, compared to 709 in 2023. At the national level, the fatality rate from Japanese encephalitis declined substantially from 17.6% in 2014 to 7.1% in 2024.

The parliamentary panel recommended strengthening real-time disease surveillance through a dedicated Northeast vector-borne disease portal and introducing AI-based early-warning systems to identify and predict potential disease hotspots.

It also called for mobile health units, pre-monsoon health camps, rapid-response teams, stronger laboratory facilities and dedicated NESIDS funding for high-risk areas. The committee recommended disease-specific treatment protocols for severe dengue and other complications, besides establishing a Regional Entomology Training Hub and making greater use of climate modelling and digital disease reporting.

The panel also flagged gaps in the existing disease surveillance system, noting that vector-borne disease data are not separately collected for tribal, rural and urban populations. It recommended collecting such data separately to enable more targeted prevention and control measures across the region.