Five Southeast Asian nations team up to eliminate kala-azar
DHAKA – Five nations in Southeast Asia have teamed up through signing a Memorandum of Understanding, or MoU, to collaborate in the elimination of Visceral Leishmaniasis from their countries.
Health ministers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Thailand singed the MoU on behalf of their respective sides on the first day of the four-day South-East Asia Regional Conference of World Health Organization, which began here Tuesday.
Over 147 million people in the Southeast Asia Region are at risk of contracting this life-threatening disease, mainly in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, with recent, sporadic cases being reported from Bhutan and Thailand as well, said a WHO statement.
It said as over 50 percent of the cases in the three main affected countries occur in areas close to international borders, besides strong national efforts, countries need close collaboration to control and eliminate this disease, also known as kala-azar, which is characterized by irregular bouts of fever, substantial weight loss, swelling of the spleen and liver, and anaemia.
Areas for collaboration among the five countries will include mutually agreed mechanisms of resource mobilization, exchange of information, inter-sectoral collaboration, research, capacity building and technical support, it added.
Health ministers from 11 countries of the South-East Asia region have attended the 32nd meeting to discuss ways of addressing vector-borne diseases and adopt the Dhaka declaration on the issue.
“Kala-azar elimination is within our reach and WHO is committed to it,” said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia.
“We now have field-friendly diagnostic tools and effective medicines for its treatment. WHO has negotiated for an assured free supply of the treatment drug to endemic countries till end- 2016, with a likelihood of this arrangement being extended for another five years,” she added.
WHO says elimination of kala-azar means reducing the cases to a level where it is no longer a public health problem. The target is to achieve less than one kala-azar case per 10000 population annually, at the district or sub-district level, it said.
According to the statement, the elimination strategy will include access to early diagnosis and treatment, particularly of the most vulnerable populations together with stronger disease and vector surveillance and integrated vector management with emphasis on improvement of the environment, social mobilization, research and networking.
Elimination of kala-azar will contribute to mitigation of poverty and strengthen health and development efforts in the affected countries, it said.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the conference around 11:00 a.m. local time.
This will be followed by the 67th session of the WHO South-East Asia Regional Committee, to review progress of the World Health Assembly resolutions.
Source: Xinhua
Published: 09 Sep 2014
Category: Features, Health alert
