After a polio free Bihar, a kala-azar free Bihar could soon become a reality. The State is reaching a step closer to eradicate this killer disease for which credit goes to a synergized effort carried by the State Government along with its partners.
Speaking at a workshop here, Dr RK Sengupta, joint director National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) said, “Bihar is one of the key States in the global kala azar elimination programme. Currently the State accounts for 75 percent disease burden in India.
Kala-azar or leishmania, a potentially fatal parasitic disease spread by sand flies has been eliminated from a large part of the world. It however, continues to affect thousands of people, mainly poor, living in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Bihar alone accounts for around 77 percent of the 4,632 recorded cases in India in 2016.
Bihar Government has recognized kala-azar as a public health problem and is working in a planned way to eliminate the disease by 2017. The State has developed a roadmap with targets and goals to track the progress towards elimination.
According to data sourced from the NVBDCP, the number of kala-azar cases have dropped from 23,084 cases in 2010 to 3,563 cases in 2016. The number of reported deaths has come down from 95 to none during the same period.
Dr M P Sharma, additional director cum State programme officer said, “Proper planning, focused approach and regular monitoring have shown positive results in Bihar. There has been a significant reduction in the number of kala-azar cases and deaths. We have not lost any life due to this disease this year.”
Dr Sharma said that in the lst few years the Government focused on two key areas, one is spraying of synthetic pyrethroid in all the houses in affected areas and secondly providing better and more effective treatment by single dose liposomal Amphotericin and both hve shown positive results.
During the recently concluded round of spraying, the programme has managed to reach all 33 affected districts in Bihar. The ten endemic districts in Bihar are – Araria, East Champaran, Madhepura, Muzaffarpur, Purnia, Saharsa, Samastipur, Saran, Sitamarhi and Vaishali.