As the Government turns its focus more on the lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and cancer, it seems to be lagging in its fight against poor man disease, lymphatic filariasis: experts point out that it will have to postpone the goal for lF elimination by two year i.e. from 2015 to 2017.
“And still we are not sure if we will be able to deliver the result even by 2017. Even if all the endemic districts reached to less than one per cent case per 10,000, they will have to pass the transmission assessment survey (TSA) test which is a long drawn process,” said MM Pradhan, Deputy Director, State Vector Borne Disease Prevention Control Centre.
He was speaking at an media interaction programme on lF which was organised by the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases here. The National Health Policy (2002) envisages elimination of lymphatic filariasis in India by 2015.
“We have to really work hard to reach to the target. If we are able to do that, it will be our biggest health victory after Polio,” Says Nandini Pillai from the GNNTD.
Currently as many as 137 districts continue to report the disease and will be covered under the annual mass drug administration (MDA) to be launched from December 14 to December 20, being marked as National lymphatic Filariasis Week.
Around five rounds of MDA of single dose of DEC (Diethylcarbamazine citrate) and Albendazole has been conducted on the eligible population (except pregnant women, children below 2 years of age and seriously ill persons) to interrupt transmission of the disease in 255 districts.
Currently, 35 crore people in 137 districts in13 states continue to remain under the lF risk. The States hope to bring down the number further with another round of MDA in December.
“From 20 highly-endemic districts, Orissa has brought down the number to ten in the past one decade. On December 19, ten districts including Ganjam, Nayagarh, Boudh, Deogarh, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak and Angul will be covered under the MDA to be launched on December 19, said Pradhan. However, while the Centre is yet to come out with a national policy to address the suffering of the lF-inflicted patients, despite several rounds of MDA, still the coverage is far behind the required level of 85 per cent.
Reasons for the failure of compliance have been many. “People don’t feel the need for consumption because they feel that they are healthy and did not show any symptoms. Sometimes they forget to consume, sometimes it is fear of side effects especially in case of children as well as poor awareness.
lF is a parasitic disease caused by microscopic worms, transmitted through the bite of mosquito. It can cause horrible disability and disfigurement in the inflicted people who have to face physical, social and emotional challenges due to lack of awareness and stigma in the society.