Venezuelan migrants not being ruled out of filaria campaign

Mar 29, 2019 News

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-As Ministry gears to achieve WHO’s 2020 elimination target with triple drug therapy

The Ministry of Public Health has not yet been able to assess whether the influx of Venezuelan migrants has had any bearing on its ongoing lymphatic filariasis [filaria] Mass Drug Administration [MDA] campaign. However, Deputy Chief Medical Officer [DCMO], Dr. Karen Gordon-Campbell, disclosed yesterday once the need arises, they too will be included in the process.
Dr. Gordon-Campbell speaking at a press conference held at the Lot 1 Brickdam, Georgetown Ministry of Public Health head office told reporters that “I don’t think that we can say that they had an impact on the campaign, because we haven’t really measured the prevalence amongst them as yet [but] there is a possibility once they are residing in Guyana, they would be given the same privileges as any Guyanese.”
Moreover, the DCMO disclosed that the Ministry will make all efforts to ensure that the migrants have a clear understanding of what the Ministry is doing, even as she related that, “we will use the Spanish-speaking medical personnel we have to make sure that they understand what we are trying to do and the treatment will be made available to them too.”
The Ministry has been conducting the campaign embracing the slogan “because we care, we share.”
According to Dr. Gordon-Campbell, the MDA campaigns executed in the years 2017 and 2018 saw the Ministry realising 85 and 86 percent coverage respectively.
“This was in part due to micro planning and macro planning, a lot of community involvement and multi-sectoral involvement,” said the DCMO, as she pointed out that in order for Guyana to reach the WHO recommended 2020 target for elimination of the disease would require three more years of MDA using two drug types – 100 mg Diethylcarbamazine [DEC] and 400 mg Albendazole.
But according to Dr. Gordon-Campbell, “we don’t have that three years. So if we are to reach eligibility for 2020, we have to slightly adjust our strategy. The strategy that we have available to us is to implement a triple drug therapy.”
The triple drug therapy reference by Dr. Gordon-Boyle will include 200 kg Ivermectin, which will allow the Ministry to reach its target within the WHO stipulated time.
We have this year and we have 2020 [next year], and if we manage to reach over 80 percent coverage, we could be eligible for elimination,” said the DCMO, as she named Costa Rica, Suriname and Trinidad as countries in this part of the Region that were formerly endemic for filaria but have since achieved elimination.
“We want to join them; we want to be part of those countries that can say we no longer have this as a problem, and that is going to require consorted efforts on our part. It’s going to require multi-sector involvement, private sector involvement,” said Dr. Gordon-Campbell.
According to her, thus far, the Ministry has seen its greatest successes in Regions Three, Four, Five and 10, which are predominantly urban, but the Ministry is now tasked with reaching out to hinterland locations which, she noted, have multiple challenges including: culture, language, cost and geography.
“We can’t immediately say that because we were successful for the past two years that we will be successful with these [other locations], not, at least, with this same strategy, so we are going to have to go back to the drawing board. We are going to have to sit with the same communities that we are trying to target now and work out what will work best,” the DCMO disclosed.
Even as she commended the support the Public Health Ministry has been receiving to sustain its gains against the disease, the DCMO said that the Ministry’s partner with the likes of the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation [PAHO/WHO], the United States Agency for International Development [USAID] and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], which have been integral to the successes realised thus far.
Moreover, Dr. Gordon-Campbell shared the spotlight at yesterday’s press conference with representatives from the partner agencies who helped to share plans for the continuance of the campaign.
Resident PAHO/WHO Representative, Dr. William Adu-Krow, said that, “for the first time we have used micro planning as tool to do our MDA and as a result we were able to achieve over 85 percent [coverage].” But according to the PAHO/WHO Rep., combating filaria will be an ongoing battle if the Ministry is not able to ensure that there is a sustained high intake of the filaria drugs.
“It is a war against filaria and the war is not won yet and I am hoping that everybody would come on board,” said an optimistic Dr. Adu-Krow.
Recently the Ministry’s Head of Public Relations and Health Promotion, Mr. Terrence Esseboom, in an attempt to raise awareness about the disease, said that an individual usually takes years after becoming infected to manifest visible signs. These signs, he said, could include gross swelling of the scrotum in men [hydrocele], the labia [the inner and outer folds of the vulva, at either side of the vagina] in women or gross swelling of the lower legs [elephantiasis]. Elephantiasis has no known cure and can likewise be both disfiguring and debilitating, as such the consequences of having this very obvious disfigurement can include loss of relationships, social isolation, loss of self-esteem and the inability to perform jobs requiring a high mobility.
He said too that patients with hydrocele sometimes are required to wait for long periods for corrective surgery if they are not in a financial position to pay for this privately.
“This could mean prolonged embarrassment, loss of jobs, social isolation and depression for those unfortunate enough to be both sick and poor,” Esseboom noted.
Moreover, the preventative actions being taken by the Public Health Ministry through its MDA campaign is expected to help save hundreds of men and women from the severe social and personal impact of chronic filaria.

 

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