Umesh Jadav, parliamentary secretary to the Chief Minister, and in-charge of the Health and Family Welfare Department, launched a weeklong programme to administer Diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) and Albendezole tablets to prevent filariasis cases in the district here on Wednesday.
He appealed to health workers and doctors to actively participate in the drive to bring down the incidence of filariasis cases below 1 per cent of the population.
Dr. Jadav, who himself is a medical practitioner, said that Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) had a pivotal role to play in ensuring the success of the programme. Filariasis, though a dangerous crippling disease without any known treatment, could be prevented easily by consuming DEC and Albendezole tablets.
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Dr. Jadav said that along with these tablets, the regular intake of de-worming drugs would help prevent many diseases. He said that the authorities should take precautionary steps to avoid breeding of mosquitoes in quarries and mines. People living near mining areas should be asked to consume these tablets.
Sivaswamy, Joint Director, National Vector Borne Control Programme, said that except Kalaburagi, Bidar, and Yadgir and parts of Raichur and Vijayapura districts, the incidence of filariasis had come down to below 1 per cent of the population in the State.
All-out efforts should be made to bring down the incidence of filariasis below 1 per cent of the population in these districts too and to make Karnataka free from the disease.
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The programme was simultaneously launched in Kalaburagi, Bidar, and Yadgir districts on Wednesday and would continue till August 17. Health workers and volunteers drawn from other departments would reach out to individual households to distribute DEC and Albendezole tablets and ensure its consumption by the targeted population of 25.98 lakh people in the district. The teams would reach out to each and every 5.88 lakh houses in the district.
The programme has not been launched in a couple of taluks in Raichur and Vijayapura districts, which reported more than 1 per cent of filariasis cases owing to short supply of drugs.