The Uttar Pradesh (UP) Government launched an immunization campaign to eradicate Filariasis or Filaria in UP. The campaign will be held from November 25 – December 10, 2019. The campaign was launched by Health and Family Welfare Minister Jai Pratap Singh.
The medicine (one tablet of Diethylcarbamazine (DEC) and Albendazole each) will be distributed to 19 districts (6.5 crores people) till December 10. Under this campaign, around 65 thousand teams of health workers will be working to control filaria. Under the campaign special focus will be given to create a mosquito-free environment and cleanliness.
Filaria:
Filaria (popularly known as the elephant’s foot) is a disease that is spread by infected mosquitoes especially through the parasitic Culex fatigans female mosquito. There are no effective methods available to treat this disease, prevention is the only way.
Key Points: –
i.19 districts covered under the campaign have been divided into two categories namely double drug and triple- drug in which they will be provided DEC tablet, Albendazole, and ivermectin.
ii.UP government launched this campaign with special focus on central government’s target to eradicate Filaria from the country by the year 2021.
iii.Report on Filaria: Filaria is the world’s second-largest disease that makes people handicapped on a large scale. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports 65 million people with the risk of this disease. In India above 4.5 lakhs of people are suffering from filaria. Hence, the government launched the policy to eliminate filaria from the country in 2015.
iv.Symptoms: Filaria patients may have fever, body itchy, elephant feet, swelling around the testicles. Some people may have this infection from childhood.
About Uttar Pradesh (UP):
Capital –Lucknow
Chief Minister (CM)- Yogi Adityanath
Governor– Anandiben Patel
