Bhubaneswar: The state government has decided to take steps to eliminate the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by the end of 2030.
The decision was taken as part of the commitment of the country to eliminate the NTDs in alignment with World Health Organisation (WHO) NTD Roadmap 2021-2030. NTDs include a group of preventable diseases like Lymphatic Filariasis, Visceral Leishmaniasis (Kala-Azar), leprosy, dengue, chikungunya, disease caused due to snakebite and rabies.
The government, in a statement, said, “We remain committed to ensure that India meets its NTD elimination target much before 2030. In view of elimination drive we will be doing mass drug administration activities in 17 Filaria endemic districts in two phases in February 2021.”
During the first phase, the government plans to cover eight districts– Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jharsuguda, Nuapada, Khurda and Nayagarh where mass drug administration will be undertaken February 10 while the other nine districts will be covered in the second phase during the last week of February.
The nine districts which will be covered under the scheme include Ganjam, Angul, Bargarh, Keonjhar, Kandhamal, Mayurbhanj, Sonepur, Sundargarh and Sambalpur.
The state Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) department claimed that morbidity management clinics would now be opened at high endemic areas for providing demonstration to the affected about self care.