Abstract
Context: Lymphatic filariasis or elephantiasis a serious public health problem in India. Millennium Development Goals and National Health Policies purport to eliminate filariasis by 2015. The concept of mass drug administration (MDA) is to approach every individual in the target community and administer annual single dose of anti-filarial drugs (DEC or DEC+Albendazole). Aims: 1. Assess the coverage and compliance to MDA in the district. 2. Assess the awareness of elephantiasis among beneficiaries. 3. Assess the knowledge of drug distributors about filariasis and the MDA program. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in one urban and three rural clusters in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka for the period of one week. A total of 50 houses were selected in each cluster by systematic random sampling method and data were collected in a structured proforma by interview technique. Statistical Analysis Used: Descriptive statistics such as percentage, mean, and standard deviation. Results: Among 1,022 beneficiaries, the overall coverage of MDA was 82.3%. Compliance among those who had received the tablets was 52.1%. Effective coverage rate was 42.9%. The compliance rate was significantly higher in rural areas [376 (58.6%)] compared to urban areas [62 (31.0%)]. The most common reason quoted for not consuming drugs was Don't want (50.4%). A total of 56% of the respondents were aware of the elephantiasis disease and MDA program. Conclusions: Even though there was high coverage of MDA in Uttara Kannada district, compliance and effective coverage rates were found to be poor.
Highlights
Filariasis has been a major public health problem in India only to malaria
Data on the knowledge of drug distributors regarding filariasis was collected at the subcenter and the village level in a pre-tested structured proforma, which includes basic information a drug distributor should be having, for instance, whether they have ever heard of filariasis, the purpose of mass drug administration (MDA) program, and probable side effects of drugs used in MDA by interview technique
Effective coverage rate, which is the proportion of actual beneficiaries in the given community who had consumed the drugs, was 438 (42.8%)
Summary
Filariasis has been a major public health problem in India only to malaria. Filariasis is not lethal, it causes debility and imposes severe social and economic burden on affected individuals, their families, and communities.[1,2] Over 600 million people living in 250 districts across 20 states/Union Territories of India are endemic for the disease. An estimated 49 million individuals in India are infected with lymphatic filariasis. Over 23 million people suffer from chronic forms of filariasis. Wuchereria bancrofti is the species that causes 99.4% of all cases of filariasis, while Brugia malayi is responsible for 0.6% of the problem. In Karnataka, 13.28 million people from 39 Talukas of 8 districts live in the endemic area; of these, 10.14 million are from rural areas
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