Uttar Pradesh became the first state in the country for starting a campaign to eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis through Mass Drug Administration (MDA) in 19 districts of the state from Monday.
Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh said that the government was committed to eliminating the disease which could be cured by large-scale vaccination.
“We did it with encephalitis and now we have started a campaign to eliminate filariasis,” he said.
Singh said that the campaign would be taken up in 19 districts in two phases. In 11 districts, a combination of three drugs would be administered, while in the remaining eight districts, a combination of two drugs would be given.
In 11 districts, namely Prayagraj, Chandauli, Fatehpur, Hardoi, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar, Lakhimpur Kheri, Mirzapur, Pratapgarh, Sitapur and Unnao, the government would undertake MDA rounds with triple drug therapy, a combination of three anti-filarial medicines – Ivermectin, DEC and Albendazole (IDA).
In the remaining eight districts - Auraiya, Etawah, Farrukhabad, Ghazipur, Kannauj, Kaushambi, Rae Bareli and Sultanpur — a combination of two drugs – DEC and Albendazole — would be given.
These medicines will be administered free of cost by health workers across these endemic districts.
The health minister said that the government had set a target to reach out to 5.66 crore people in these 19 endemic regions. “Health workers will go to every house and administer the drug,” he said.
As per government records, there are 1.25 lakh people affected by filariasis, a disease which is spreads by mosquitoes.