Health Ministry embarks on massive deworming exercise

The Health Ministry is accelerating its mass drug admin-istration programmefor the elimination of neglected diseases in Guyana with renewed emphasis on tacklinglymphatic filariasis and other kinds of worm in-festation. The ministry is cur-rently undertaking a col-laborative exercise for mass treatment to reduce and eventually eliminate the incidences of lym-phatic filariasis and oth-er worm infestations for all persons, particularly children over two years old, and all adults, ex-cept pregnant women.The mass treatment programme, which start-ed in 2008, would be done regionally. It was previously implement-ed in Regions Two, Five and Six from 2008 to 2009. Activities involve a regional inter-sec-toral committee set up to spearhead the activity.That committee would liaise with the Health Ministry’s personnel to conduct house-to-house sensitisation. This would occur before the actu-al drug administration, and would be ongoingfor at least one week af-ter the activity has been completed. Medication would be distributed to each household by health workers and trained vol-unteers of the Health Ministry who would be properly identified and equipped with additional information at a conve-nient time. With this in mind, residents of Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice) are asked to be on the look-out for sensitisation per-sonnel this weekend, since the second round of the mass drug adminis-tration is set for Region Five from November 12 to 16. During the house-to-house visitation, volun-teers would distribute anti-worming medica-tion and would seek to assist persons with as-sociated health issues, such as lymphoedemaand hydrocele, by refer-ring them to special clin-ics at Suddie, Charity, and Georgetown public hospitals for immediate attention. This project is a fol-low-up to the DEC-salt programme, which has resulted in significant re-duction of new incidenc-es of lymphatic filariasis over the past few years. The DEC-salt campaign, the Health Ministry re-ported, has achieved its intended result in re-ducing the microfilari-asis reservoir pool, so the time has come for a mopping up exercise to ensure that Guyana achieves the target of eliminating lymphatic fi-lariasis. The medications to be distributed dur-ing the upcoming exer-cise include Albendazole, to treat possible infes-tations of roundworms, hookworms, pinworms, whipworms, thread-worms and tapeworms. Every person over two years old, except preg-nant mothers and very ill persons on other med-ications, would be given one 400mg Albendazole (a pink tablet) for imme-diate ingestion.Diethylcarbamazine (DEC) is another type of medication that will be distributed. This medica-tion treats filarial worm infections. It is a white, round tablet to be ad-ministered depending on the age of the individual. As with Albendazole tab-lets, pregnant mothers, children under two years old, and very ill persons on other medications will not be required to take this treatment. This massive pro-gramme is support-ed by the ministries of Education; Local Government and Regional Development;Amerindian Affairs; and Culture, Youth and Sport. The various RegionalDemocratic Councils and NeighbourhoodDemocratic Councils are also part of the exercise.More support is com-ing from the Seventh-day Adventist church, which has a global de-worming programme;the private sector; faith-based organizations; oth-er civil society organiza-tions, and international partners such as PAHO/ WHO, UNICEF, USAID and the U.S. Center for Disease Control.

The Health Ministry is accelerating its mass drug admin-istration programmefor the elimination of neglected diseases in Guyana with renewed emphasis on tacklinglymphatic filariasis and other kinds of worm in-festation. The ministry is cur-rently undertaking a col-laborative exercise for mass treatment to reduce and eventually eliminate the incidences of lym-phatic filariasis and oth-er worm infestations for all persons, particularly children over two years old, and all adults, ex-cept pregnant women.The mass treatment programme, which start-ed in 2008, would be done regionally. It was previously implement-ed in Regions Two, Five and Six from 2008 to 2009. Activities involve a regional inter-sec-toral committee set up to spearhead the activity.That committee would liaise with the Health Ministry’s personnel to conduct house-to-house sensitisation. This would occur before the actu-al drug administration, and would be ongoingfor at least one week af-ter the activity has been completed. Medication would be distributed to each household by health workers and trained vol-unteers of the Health Ministry who would be properly identified and equipped with additional information at a conve-nient time. With this in mind, residents of Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice) are asked to be on the look-out for sensitisation per-sonnel this weekend, since the second round of the mass drug adminis-tration is set for Region Five from November 12 to 16. During the house-to-house visitation, volun-teers would distribute anti-worming medica-tion and would seek to assist persons with as-sociated health issues, such as lymphoedemaand hydrocele, by refer-ring them to special clin-ics at Suddie, Charity, and Georgetown public hospitals for immediate attention. This project is a fol-low-up to the DEC-salt programme, which has resulted in significant re-duction of new incidenc-es of lymphatic filariasis over the past few years. The DEC-salt campaign, the Health Ministry re-ported, has achieved its intended result in re-ducing the microfilari-asis reservoir pool, so the time has come for a mopping up exercise to ensure that Guyana achieves the target of eliminating lymphatic fi-lariasis. The medications to be distributed dur-ing the upcoming exer-cise include Albendazole, to treat possible infes-tations of roundworms, hookworms, pinworms, whipworms, thread-worms and tapeworms. Every person over two years old, except preg-nant mothers and very ill persons on other med-ications, would be given one 400mg Albendazole (a pink tablet) for imme-diate ingestion.Diethylcarbamazine (DEC) is another type of medication that will be distributed. This medica-tion treats filarial worm infections. It is a white, round tablet to be ad-ministered depending on the age of the individual. As with Albendazole tab-lets, pregnant mothers, children under two years old, and very ill persons on other medications will not be required to take this treatment. This massive pro-gramme is support-ed by the ministries of Education; Local Government and Regional Development;Amerindian Affairs; and Culture, Youth and Sport. The various RegionalDemocratic Councils and NeighbourhoodDemocratic Councils are also part of the exercise.More support is com-ing from the Seventh-day Adventist church, which has a global de-worming programme;the private sector; faith-based organizations; oth-er civil society organiza-tions, and international partners such as PAHO/ WHO, UNICEF, USAID and the U.S. Center for Disease Control.

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