India targets to eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis by 2027

The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Jagat Prakash Nadda virtually launched the annual Mass Drug Administration (MDA) campaign for the elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis in identified 13 endemic states on 10 February 2025. 

The Union Minister said that the central government aims to eliminate the incidence of Lymphatic Filariasis disease in the country by 2027.

The MDA campaign aims to administer anti-filarial medicine to persons in the identified endemic area to prevent the further transmission of the disease.

In which state the MDA has been launched?

The MDA has been launched in the identified 111 districts of 13 states where the Lymphatic Filariasis disease is endemic. These states are Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. 

Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis 

The Government of India is a signatory to the 1997 World Health Assembly Resolution for Global Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis. 

The government of India has adopted a two-pronged strategy for the elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis in the country by 2027.

Two-pronged strategies are;

• Mass Drug Administration (MDA) and 
• Home-based management of lymphoedema cases and up-scaling of hydrocele operations in identified district hospitals/medical colleges.

About the Mass Drug Administration (MDA)

The annual MDA campaign is administered by the National Center for Vector Borne Diseases Control under the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

• The MDA was launched in 2004 by the government of India to prevent the transmission of the disease.
• Under the MDA campaign, trained health workers undertake door-to-door campaigns to administer the prescribed oral medicine in the identified endemic areas.
• From 2018 onwards, eligible persons above 5 years of age are administered a single dose of Ivermectin, Diethylcarbamazine Citrate (DEC), and Albendazole in the presence of a trained health worker.
• Pregnant women and seriously ill people are not administered the drug.

About Lymphatic Filariasis 

Lymphatic Filariasis commonly known as elephantiasis or Hathi Paon is a physically disfiguring and disabling disease.

It is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide where the patients may be bed-ridden for several days and normal routine activities become difficult, severely affecting the person's earning capability. 

Cause of diseases 

• The disease is caused by round, coiled, and thread-like parasitic nematodes (roundworms) belonging to the family Filarioidea.
• The nematodes are transmitted through the bites of the infected mosquitoes.
• The Mosquito-transmitted larvae of the parasites after getting deposited on the skin penetrate on their own or through the opening created by mosquito bites to reach the lymphatic system.
• In the lymphatic vessels, they develop into adult worms, thus continuing the cycle of transmission.

Symptom of Disease

• The person may be infected in childhood but the symptoms of the disease manifest later in life.
• The infected person has swollen limbs (lymphoedema or elephantiasis) and among males Hydrocele is common.
• According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Lymphatic filariasis affects over 120 million people in 72 countries in the tropical and subtropical region of Africa, Asia, the Western Pacific, and parts of the Caribbean and South America.