Even as some 1,401 persons from households in Cove and John to Nooten Zuil, along the East Coast of Demerara have so far taken filaria pills, the Ministry of Health, in a Department of Public Information (DPI) press release, has said that the campaign has been plagued by high number of refusals from households.
This was disclosed to DPI by Nurse in charge of the Victoria Health Centre, Chrisny McKinnon on Saturday last.
The initiative, a part of the Ministry of Health’s Mass Drug Administration campaign to eliminate filaria in Regions Three and Four, was recently launched. Nurse McKinnon pointed out, “We are going around to various communities and homes to provide filaria medication to persons. We have been having high rates of refusals from households. However, we are trying to see how much we can best answer their questions to alleviate any of their fears so that we can eliminate this disease from our communities and country.”
McKinnon said that individuals with doubts about the filaria pills can visit the ministry’s website, Facebook page or the health centres in their communities for information about filaria. “Before you go ahead and take the medication, we also have supervisors coming out to speak to those persons who have refused to take the medication to find out a little bit more about why they have refused it and what we can do to alleviate some of the fears they may have,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony underscored that Guyana has been working to eliminate this disease for over two decades. The ministry, according to DPI, has successfully eradicated filaria from eight of the ten regions in Guyana. Anthony emphasised the importance of taking the pills because filaria symptoms may not manifest for 15 to 20 years, although the parasite could be present in the body. “But that doesn’t mean that you do not have the parasite. It’s living within your body. If you take these pills, it will help to kill those parasites and you will be free from filaria. And that is what the campaign is about. We really want to encourage everyone to take their tablets,” Dr. Anthony underscored.
To tackle the filarial prevalence, the ministry, in partnership with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), trained 700 pill distributors to assist with the Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Campaign (LFEC) in communities in Regions Three and Four, the DPI said.
