Health camp to nip kala-azar in bud

VARANASI: Curbing kala-azar by organising regular health camps in rural areas of the district is the revised strategy of district health administration. It is eying to cover all the eight rural blocks of the district this year.
While eight health awareness camps with on-the-spot detection in rural areas of the district has restricted kala-azar cases to only one so far this year, the health officials are planning to organise 11 more camps.
It may be mentioned here that the only case of kala-azar has been reported from Chandrawati village near Chaubeypur area in the district this year. Also, reports of CMO office in the past five years have shown waning of kala-azar cases that have reduced from 27 in 2006 to four cases last year.
"Holding of one to two health camps per month aimed at creating awareness and initiating preventive measures against kala-azar are in the pipeline to curb the spread of the disease this year," said chief medical officer RS Verma. Apart from on-the-spot detection tests, the camp would also ensure mass screening of suspected patients from the rural pockets, he added.
As per district malaria officer MA Khan, healths camps, including special fortnightly camps, have been already organised and now efforts are on to include villages that have already reported kala-azar cases in the past five years. "We are also including Sewapuri and Araziline blocks for the first time under our health awareness camps and the idea is to control the vector-borne disease in the district," he added.
It is worth mentioning that kala-azar (also called Leishmaniasis) is a protozoal disease caused by the parasites of the genus Leishmania and transmitted to man by the bite of female phlebotomine sandfly. The vector-borne disease has been known to occur epidemically and endemically in well-defined areas in the eastern sector of the country including eastern district of UP.
These camps would not be restricted at on-the-spot detect and mass screening but would also witness insecticidal spraying combined with sanitation measures to eliminate the breeding places of sandfly that carry the parasites of the disease. "It includes cracks in mud or stone walls, rodent burrows, removal of firewood, bricks or rubbish around houses," the DMO informed.
As per reports of CMO office, sensitive areas covering rural blocks of Chiraigaon, Cholapur, Harahua and Kashi Vidyapeeth, that have reported nearly 90% of kala-azar cases in the past five years, would witness holding of dual health camps, as they have been covered under the first round of health camps on priority basis.