Pradip Kumar Bhue1, Padmavati Majhi2, Manasee Panda3
BACKGROUND
Lymphatic filariasis (LF), a group of parasitic infections, is a major public health
problem in India which primarily affects people living in extreme poverty and it
can lead to disfigurement, disability and chronic pain. It also causes social stigma
and discrimination of the individuals and their families within the communities
which adversely affects their social and economic life. For elimination of LF, mass
drugs administration (MDA) is being implemented since 2004 in Odisha.
METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted in Jharsuguda district in the month of
November 2019. Data regarding MDA was collected from 300 (200 rural and 100
urban) households (HHs) in a pre-designed, pretested questionnaire and the
results were expressed in percentages and wherever applicable, tests of
significance were applied.
RESULTS
Among the 1331 beneficiaries in the surveyed population, the overall coverage,
compliance and effective supervised coverage of MDA were found to be 87.2 %,
94.1 % and 62.4 %, respectively. The coverage and effective supervised coverage
of MDA was found to be significantly better in Kolabira block than in Lakhanpur
block and Jharsuguda town. But the difference in compliance among the three
studied clusters was not found to be significant. Though the drugs were distributed
in the schools from this year, majority (93.5 %) of the beneficiaries received the
drugs at home and only 6.5 % had received the drugs at school.
CONCLUSIONS
A high coverage along with strict adherence to compliance should be there for
elimination of LF. Improved information education communication (IEC) activities
in the district will build confidence and alleviate fear of side effects among the
beneficiaries and consumption of drugs in front of drug distributors (DDs) will
increase the compliance.
