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The Ministry of Health and Sanitation in collaboration with partners will conduct a Mass Drug Administration (MDA) campaign for bilharzia and Soil Transmitted Hermith (STH) from 3 to 7th November. Speaking during a press conference in Lilongwe on Thursday, Deputy Director of Public Health Division, Holystone Kafanikhale, the campaign targets school going children aged 5 to 14 and those in communities in 15 districts with moderate and high prevalence rates. “The remaining districts have low prevalence rates for the diseases therefore they will not participate in the campaign as they are not at high risk,” he said. Annually, Kafanikhale said, the country provides mass drug administration in the targeted group with the goal of eliminating the diseases by 2030. In his presentation, Bilharzia Control Program Manager Michael Luhanga highlighted high risk factors that contribute to the diseases like low sanitation coverage that leads to open defecation, low access to safe water, floods as water migrates from one area to another carrying snails, inadequate vector control measures among others. Luhanga stressed the need to intervene through the administration of drugs to high risk groups and areas, increase safe water supply by providing boreholes and piped water. “We are also encouraging the communities to have pit latrines, reduce contact with contaminated water. We are doing continuous surveillance and monitoring in the high risk areas as well,” he said. During the campaign, Luhanga disclosed that they will also distribute Iron Folic supplement to girls aged 9 to 19 years to avoid anaemia. Bilharzia is a public health concern in Malawi and one of the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) which receives little prioritization in terms of resources by stakeholders.
