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Four additional regions being targeted in new filaria campaign
The Ministry of Public Health, along with the Pan American Health Organization/ World Health Organization (PAHO-WHO), has announced that the Mass Drug Administration (MDA) exercise to eliminate filaria (Lymphatic Filariasis) will include four more regions.
Presenting at the MDA one-on-one session, Director of Vector Control Services, Dr. Horace Cox
The MDA campaign will focus on four additional endemic regions namely Moruca Sub-Region, Region One; New Amsterdam and surrounding areas in Region Six; Bartica and Lower Mazaruni Communities in Region Seven and Region Two.
The campaign reach has been revised after the PAHO/WHO statistics had indicated that Guyana is one of two countries in the Americas left to eliminate filaria, Haiti being the other country. Before the revision of the campaign, the exercise was only rolled out on the coastal areas of Guyana—that being Regions three, four, five and 10.
Critical to this revised campaign is the addition of a third drug, Ivermectin, to the already administered Diethylcarbamazine (DEC) and Albendazole tablets, thus making the initial double-drug therapy now three-fold.
Another significant part of this campaign is the fact that the dosage of this drug therapy will be based on height. Director of the Public Health Ministry’s Vector Control Services, Dr. Horace Cox, explained this past week that the new strategy taken to prevent filaria is the most effective.
“This year, we have determined, after assessing all perspectives, the best strategy is to measure the height of the persons that would be participating in the mass drug administration campaign… They will use a dose pole and on that dose pole, there are several demarcations…” Dr. Cox explained.
According to the doctor, the dose pole will outline the number of pills to be administered to the corresponding height measured. Every pill distributor must utilise a dose pole before distributing pills in this revised campaign.
The collaborating agencies, Public Health Ministry and PAHO/WHO, have engaged the media to spread the word and get the message of the Mass Drug Administration to raise awareness about it being the only effective and successful method of preventing filaria in Guyana.
Focal Point for Neglected Infectious Diseases at Vector Control Services, Dr. Reza Niles, said there is no cure for the chronic manifestation of filaria but there is prevention for the early stages of the infection. For this reason Dr. Niles amplified that the media is a critical component in having members of the public understand.
“A key component to any successful MDA is social mobilisation that is why we are engaging you the media to affect behaviour change. What is this behaviour change? For persons not just to take their pills but to acknowledge there is a problem, to defeat this problem,” Dr. Niles said.
When the campaign is officially launched, pills distributors will visit homes and schools. They will also be established at fixed locations, such as offices, market places, places of worship, stellings and bus parks, in an effort to ensure that all have an opportunity to take the pills.
The new and revised campaign, which is being executed under the theme: “Protect Yourself! Protect your family! Protect your community! Protect your community! Take your filaria pills!” is tentatively scheduled to commence in eight regions, during the last week of October and will run for 14 days.
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