Door-to-door 3-drug therapy drive to prevent filariasis starts in Nagpur

NAGPUR: Health department of state, district administration and Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) have launched mass drug administration (MDA) activity to eliminate lymphatic filariasis on Sunday.
For next 20 days, over 22,900 health department employees will visit every household in six districts of Nagpur division and administer the dose of three medicines to all healthy citizens above 2 years of age. The medicines will prevent spread of filariasis, a parasitic disease caused by infection spread through mosquitoes. It will also keep citizens safe from worms and many types of parasite infestations.
“Filariasis is the second most common vector-borne parasitic disease after malaria. Nagpur division still has major prevalence of filariasis,” said deputy director (health) Dr Sanjay Jaiswal. Chandrapur district in Nagpur division has more than 16,000 patients of filariasis, which is the highest in state.
“Triple therapy is the best remedy to eradicate filariasis. In 2019, this drive was conducted in Nagpur district as a pilot project. A remarkable decrease in new cases of filariasis was recorded in the district,” said Dr Milind Ganvir, assistant director of health services.
This year, the government has given identity cards to all employees trained for the drive. They will convince the citizens and also ensure the tablets are consumed in front of them. The staffers will mark left index finger of a person who has taken the dose.
District malaria officer Dr Rahul Gaikwad said target is to cover 100% eligible population. “Children below 2 years, pregnant women and critically ill patients are to be excluded from this drive. All others should consume the tablets when health department personnel visit,” he said. The drive was formally launched in city at Gandhibagh Garden where mayor Sandip Joshi, MLA Krishna Khopde and others were present.