Epidemiology and control of parasitism in nomadic situations in Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

The state of Himachal Pradesh is situated south of Jammu and Kashmir, north-east of Punjab, north-west of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and west of Tibet, between latitude 30o 22' 40'' N and 33o 12' 40'' N and longitude 75o 45' 55'' E and 79o 04' 20'' E with an altitude ranging from 350 m (low valleys) to 6,975 m (snow covered mountains) above mean sea level. Geographically the state is located in the North Western Humid Himalayan Region (NWHHR) comprising Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and 8 hill districts of Uttar Pradesh. It has a total geographical area of 56,673 square kilometers including 9859 square kilometers of permanent pastureland. The climatic conditions vary from hot and sub-humid tropical in southern low tracts, (450-900 m), warm and temperate (900-1800 m), cool and temperate (1900-2400 m) and cold alpine and glacial (2400-4800 m) in the northern and eastern high mountain ranges. The rainfall varies from 350 to 3800 mm per annum with temperature varying from -25oC in January to 42oC in June. The region is well known for its biodiversity (Anonymous, 1985).