From rxpgnews.com
500 million people get filaria doses in National Filaria Day campaign
By Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India
Nov 12, 2005, 20:37
Over 500 million people affected by filaria got cost-free doses to check Lymphatic Filariasis, in 243 endemic districts of India, covering 20 States and Union Territories. With this nearly 80 per cent of the affected population have been covered on the occasion of the National Filaria Day, with the Mass Drug Administration of single dose of Diethylcarbamazine (DEC). This was disclosed by the Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr.Anbumani Ramadoss in a message to mark the National Filaria Day observed on 11th November every year. He expressed the confidence that if the same momentum is maintained, India should be free from lymphatic filariasis much before the WHO target year of 2020.
Launching the National Filaria Day campaign in Hyderabad, with the first dose, Dr.Ramadoss said that facilities have been augmented for the management of lymphoedema cases at the door step and hydrocoelectomy at identified hospitals and community health centres to alleviate the suffering of the patients. Our National Health Policy 2002 envisages, elimination of lymphatic filariasis in the country by 2015 itself. In view of this, the Government last year scaled up the Mass Drug Administration with a single dose of DEC to the affected population nation- wide. He said already 73 per cent of the targeted population has been covered. The efforts towards lymphatic filariasis will get further strengthened by the convergence of services at the grassroots, under the umbrella of the recently launched National Rural Health Mission, the Minister said.
The lymphatic filariasis a debilitating disease caused by mosquitoes, is a major health problem in 83 countries around the world. Globally 1.2 billion people are at risk, while 120 million are infected. 14 million have chronic lymphoedema and 25 million have hydrocele. India is responsible for 38 per cent of the global burden and for over 70 per cent of cases in the South-East Asian region. The DEC continues to be the drug of choice as a microfilaricide for the control of lymphatic filariasis, the wonder drug discovered by a team of scientists headed by Indian Doctor Y.S. Rao, in 1946 in the United States.
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