How Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli is popping ‘pujaris’ into allies within the struggle in opposition to malaria | India Information
In Lahiri village of Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra, 65-year-old pujari Pengda Kuma Bongani has been practising ‘jhar phook’ for many years — a faith-healing ritual of chants, rice grains and perception. Grains are scattered, counted or pressed on the physique to learn sickness, or spirits, and ward them off. However for the reason that starting of this 12 months, when somebody arrives with a fever, he has additionally been sending them to a authorities well being employee.
“For generations, this has been our solely career. For us, it isn’t about cash, however about doing good for folks and the society we dwell in. After attending a number of counselling periods, I realised that issues have modified with time and the sisters (Accredited Social Well being Activists and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives) do make sense. If our joint effort can save lives, I don’t thoughts this collaboration,” he says.
“From this 12 months onwards, I’ve been referring every kind of fever circumstances to the sisters on the Lahiri PHC (major well being centre). As soon as the affected person returns from the hospital, I carry out the ritual for a double influence,” he provides.
Conventional healers attend a workshop at SEARCH to grasp their position in addressing malaria and different well being issues within the district.
For a person whose authority stems from religion, the shift is important. “Pengda is among the many few pujaris prepared to hear,” says Kamal Ramdas Sidam, 44, an Auxiliary Nurse Midwife who has labored within the area for over a decade.
This variation is now on the centre of Maharashtra’s malaria technique in Gadchiroli — amongst India’s 10 worst-performing malaria-endemic districts — the place religion healers have lengthy been the primary level of care. Over the previous 12 months, the federal government has recognized 1,759 pujaris and begun coaching them to recognise signs and refer suspected malaria circumstances, successfully turning a cultural gatekeeper right into a hyperlink within the public well being system.
“To date, we now have recognized and listed 1,759 pujaris in our registry. We now have counselled 1,200 of them thus far, who participated in our ongoing workshops since April 1, 2025. The variety of pujaris is over 2,000 within the district,” says Dr Sujita Wadiwe, Gadchiroli District Malaria Officer.
The healers are being inspired to refer any fever case to ASHAs and ANMs. “Since January 2026, they’ve referred 27 sufferers, of which 4 had been constructive. When a pujari refers a affected person, they get Rs 15, and if that affected person seems to be malaria constructive, they get an incentive of Rs 500,” says Dr Wadiwe.
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The transfer displays a deeper problem. Regardless of accounting for barely 1% of Maharashtra’s inhabitants, Gadchiroli continues to hold a disproportionate malaria burden, a sample seen throughout a number of tribal and forested areas in India, the place delays in in search of medical care, usually rooted in perception techniques, can show deadly.
In 2025, the Maharashtra authorities launched an intensified malaria elimination initiative within the district, together with a devoted process drive, expanded surveillance, and community-based methods resembling involving conventional healers to enhance early detection. The push adopted the Centre’s discovering in 2022 that recognized Gadchiroli among the many 10 worst-performing malaria-endemic districts in India, with an Annual Parasite Incidence (API) above 1.
The geography compounds the danger. With over 70% of the district underneath dense forest cowl, common annual rainfall of 1,700 mm, and enormous sections of the inhabitants sleeping open air with out mosquito nets, transmission stays excessive. “The variety of malaria circumstances often will increase throughout two seasons: July to August and December to January,” says Gadchiroli District Well being Officer Dr Pratap Shinde.
Gadchiroli recorded 6,436 malaria circumstances in 2013, rising to 34,206 circumstances in 2015. Whereas circumstances declined within the following years, the pattern reversed once more, with 12,326 circumstances reported in 2021. The district continues to report a gradual burden, with 7,293 circumstances and 14 deaths in 2025.
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Well being officers say the intervention targets a long-standing hole, which is the time misplaced between the onset of fever and medical prognosis. In lots of villages, households first seek the advice of pujaris, usually attributing sickness to evil spirits or black magic.
To determine infections early, focused campaigns are performed in villages with increased API ranges and in areas reporting malaria deaths. Bringing pujaris into this technique is now central to that effort.
Within the coming months, they’re additionally anticipated to be skilled to make use of speedy diagnostic kits. “We can even embrace them to report and deal with different well being issues resembling little one beginning, routine checkups, sickle cell, anemia and many others,” says Dr Shinde.
Successful the belief of healers has taken years. “Within the early years, after we approached sufferers straight and urged them to get examined for malaria, they’d shut their doorways on us, chase us away. There was deep distrust of any type of medical care. Fever was not often seen as one thing that wanted remedy, many believed it was the results of black magic, one thing solely a pujari may remedy. So, we modified our method. From 2025, we started rigorous counselling of the pujaris first, bringing them on our aspect. As a result of as soon as they’re satisfied, the villagers comply with with out query,” says Sidam.
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For over three many years, the Society for Training, Motion and Analysis in Neighborhood Well being (SEARCH), a non-profit based mostly within the district, has labored to bridge this hole between perception and drugs. It’s now additionally working with the district well being officers within the new effort.
“Our research confirmed that the majority tribal folks first go to a healer after they develop a fever. That delay, even for just a few days, might be deadly,” says Dr Abhay Bang, founder and director of SEARCH.
Explaining their central position, he says, “Pujaris are wanted in childbirth, demise, wedding ceremony, housewarming or any auspicious occasion… In tribal society, these pujaris are thought of as somebody who can present a protecting armour to the group.”
As a substitute of changing this technique, SEARCH selected to work inside it. “This isn’t about selecting between religion and drugs; it’s about survival. We advised them that if each remedies occur collectively, sufferers received’t die,” says Dr Bang.
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Noting that the majority fevers subside inside three or 4 days, reinforcing perception in conventional therapeutic, he provides: “However malaria doesn’t comply with that sample. It doesn’t enhance and generally the affected person dies”. This, he says, has made some healers extra receptive. “Additionally they are not looking for their sufferers to die,” he says.
Dr Bang says earlier makes an attempt at collaboration failed, however attitudes are actually altering. “Twenty years in the past, they didn’t settle for this concept of medication. There was hesitation and a niche in belief. A few of them discovered it intimidating, as within the construction of a tall hospital constructing, so we constructed a well-recognized infrastructure that doesn’t intimidate them, we positioned a deity they believed in and over time, with steady engagement and culturally delicate approaches, that belief has been constructed,” he says. “The actual fact that they’re prepared to cooperate now could be a constructive step.”
