Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) of the Department of Health Services (DoHS) said that all the population excluding children below two years of age, and expecting mothers as well as new mothers and people with chronic disease will be administered with the elephantiasis drug under the three-day campaign. The campaign will kick off on March 12.Elephantiasis, which is the second major infectious disease after leprosy, causes permanent disability. Over 30,000 people infected with elephantiasis across the country are estimated to have been living with permanent disabilities. A survey carried out in 2003 showed that the disease is prevalent among 13 percent of the total population.
"We have urged residents of all the 36 districts for taking the drug," Dr Baburam Marasini, director at the EDCD said assuring that the drug distributed in the campaign is 100 percent secure and supplied by the multinational companies.
According to director Marasini, over 65,000 volunteers and 13,078 health workers will be mobilized during the campaign. "This time too we have planned to administer the medicine through booths that will be proximity of the locals," he said. He said that up to 40 percent populations of the targeted districts have been found infected with the disease.
The government has to eliminate the disease from the country by 2020 as part of its international commitments.
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10-day mass drug administration campaign against elephantiasis...
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