Over 400,000 persons have so far been medicated as the Ministry of Health’s Filaria elimination campaign continues across the country.
Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony made this revelation during his daily COVID-19 update where he stated that as it is currently the program has received great response from the public and is currently ongoing in regions Five, Seven, One and Two.
“So far we have exceeded more than 400,000 people who… have taken their tablets and that’s good so we are on target,” Anthony noted.
The anti-filaria campaign was relaunched in February with the Ministry hoping to have at least 75% of the population taking the tablets and subsequently having Guyana declared filaria free by the World Health Organization (WHO).
To this end the minister stated that even as they are on target, they still need the collaboration of everyone to ensure that Guyana gets beyond 65% of the population taking the tablets. As a result, the minister urged persons who have not taken the tablets to take them. “When you see the people in the purple t-shirts coming around you make sure that you ask them for your tablets. That’s very important,” he added.
He also mentioned that filaria is one of the neglected diseases that the WHO has identified and Guyana is one country that is working along with the organisation to eliminate it. This, he said, was an important step to ensure that the disease is eradicated.
“We’re very confident with the cooperation of the public that we will be able to do so,” he noted.
