India
Donor
Impact
India
NTDs
India:
- Lymphatic Filariasis
553,000,000
in India are at risk of lymphatic filariasis
Nearly 45 percent of the more than a billion people in the world at risk for lymphatic filariasis live in India, suffering under the heavy physical, financial and social burdens of the disease. India’s government has targeted lymphatic filariasis for elimination. Since 2007, the Indian Ministry of Health has been working with global partners to stop the spread of lymphatic filariasis and to prevent disability in those already infected.
Though significant progress has been made in the fight against lymphatic filariasis, much remains to be done. The eastern Indian state of West Bengal is home to more than 8 million people infected with lymphatic filariasis, many of whom still do not have access to sufficient health facilities to prevent lymphatic filariasis or treat its debilitating effects. Only through continued education, mass drug administration and morbidity management can India rid itself of this disease once and for all.
India
Your donation's
impact
In 2015, Sabin Foundation Europe helped Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) expand its lymphatic filariasis awareness and education program to new districts in West Bengal’s southern neighbor, Odisha. This effort supported an Indian Ministry of Health-led mass drug administration program by teaching community members how to manage the more severe symptoms of lymphatic filariasis and by reducing the stigma associated with this disfiguring disease.
With END7 funding, this new program led by The Ministry of Health and CASA will use the same successful model to treat more than half a million people through mass drug administration and interrupt local lymphatic filariasis transmission. An awareness program will teach community members how lymphatic filariasis spreads and how annual drug treatment can eliminate the disease. Lymphatic filariasis patients will also learn how to take better care of themselves at home to reduce swelling and pain, and to avoid other infections with proper cleaning.
Throughout the program, the CASA team will work closely with government and Ministry of Health officials to collect much-needed data on where lymphatic filariasis is found and the impact it has on the health of the West Bengali population.
Partners
State Government of West Bengal will conduct the mass drug administration and CASA will distribute educational materials and train community members in disease management.
The
work continues
Past partnerships between END7, CASA and the Indian Ministry of Health provided lymphatic filariasis treatment and education to more than 1.8 million people across Odisha State. The current project will help spread that success to half a million more of their neighbors in West Bengal, blocking lymphatic filariasis’s spread and helping patients return to a more happy and productive life. With continued support for joint education, disease management and mass drug administration programs, India stands a fighting chance to achieve its goal of lymphatic filariasis elimination by 2020.
See the difference END7 has made in:
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Key Interventions
in India
Training
health workers and volunteers
Getting the Word Out
so everyone takes the medicine
Mass Drug Administration
to treat entire communities
LF Care
to help manage the disease