Door-to-door survey for the proposed vaccination drive against the lethal Japanese Encephalitis (JE) started in Malkangiri district on Sunday, while another child died in Malkangiri district headquarter hospital taking the toll to 114.
The deceased child was identified as Suresh Madkami of Kamalapadar village in Korkunda block.
To intensify the fight against JE and the continuing deaths of children, a three-day door-to-door survey for vaccination against JE was started in Malkangiri district on Sunday. According to sources, around 890 teams are engaged in this grassroots-level survey. This survey will identify all children in the district between the ages of one and 15 years. These identified children would be vaccinated against JE in December. Vaccination against JE is expected to start in the district from first week of December. Health workers have been trained for the vaccination process against JE.
Madan Mohan Pradhan, joint director of National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), said that a massive awareness drive would also be started to make ignorant tribals aware about the threat of encephalitis, its causes as well as need for vaccination. This awareness drive would be taken up through intensive house-to-house interpersonal communication with the help of grassroots-level health workers, anganwadi workers, ASHA volunteers, teachers and panchayat body members.
Major cause of death
But JE is not the only reason behind recent deaths of children in Malkangiri district. The central expert team constituted by the government in its interim report claimed that apart from JE, consumption of beans of Cassia occidentalis, locally known as ‘bada chakunda’, is a major cause of death among children in Malkangiri. Head of this expert team Jacob Jonn had said that anthraquinone, a toxin found in Cassia occidentalis is also the cause of Encephalopathy and deaths. Presence of anthraquinone had been found in urine samples of some ailing children of Malkangiri district.
But tribal organisation, the Zilla Adivasi Samaj Mahasangh, has put doubts on the findings of the expert team, claiming that tribals have been eating beans of ‘bada chakunda’ for generations as a remedy against stomach ailments, skin diseases and worms. President of the Mahasangh, Ghanashyam Madkami, asked how it can all of a sudden become the cause of death among children. The organisation has urged more study to ascertain the real reason behind the death of children in the district.
