Guyana’s filaria elimination campaign is now complete with approximately 70 per cent of the population having received the filarial pills according to Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony.
“We started this programme a couple weeks ago and I’m very pleased to report that the programme is now completed. Overall, our assessment is that… about 70 per cent of the population would have received the filarial pills,” the health minister announced during yesterday’s COVID-19 update.
Anthony stated that the initial aim was to get approximately 65 per cent of the population but that number has been exceeded. The officials conducting the exercise, he noted, are now doing their final compilations and when that is complete he expects it to be a bit higher. “We were aiming to get at 65 per cent but we have exceeded it and they’re now mopping up and doing the numbers, so I think it would even be a little bit higher.”
The next step in the process would be to have the numbers and data finalised and subsequently invite the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/ WHO) to send in a team to verify what has been completed and later declare Guyana as being free from filaria.
“We will invite PAHO/WHO to send a team in to verify what we have completed and once they are satisfied and they can verify the numbers that we currently have then they would certify Guyana as being free from Filaria and that’s a good achievement!” he declared, adding that this is a remarkable achievement as the health authorities have been battling filaria for decades.
“We have been battling with filaria for many many decades now and to be able to eliminate filaria from Guyana is a real feat and this would have been a challenge that generations of doctors would have tried to work on and to eliminate this disease from Guyana.”
The minister expressed gratitude to the many teams that have been working on the rollout of the campaign which began on February 12.
