Lanka first SAARC country to eradicate filaria

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

Sri Lanka has set a record by becoming the first country in the SAARC region to eradicate Filaria. Sri Lanka will receive a special certificate issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in this regard, Health Services, Public Health Deputy Director General, Dr. Palitha Maheepala said. According to Dr. Maheepala, Sri Lanka achieved the required standard of eradication of Filaria in 2004 by reducing the percentage of micro filaria in blood. Now this percentage has further reduced and it is only 0.03 at the moment. This has been done with hard work including carrying out regular monitoring programs. It cost Rs. 2,000 to carry out one test to find out the percentage of micro filaria in one blood sample.

The Ministry is now in the process of finding out the percentage of affected children who had born after the last one day treatment program implemented by the Ministry.

The Ministry implemented a one day treatment program for five years continuously. U.S. assists the Ministry to carry out this survey conduct in 34 selected schools in Dehiwala, he said. According to a recent survey conducted in Dehiwala, which has been identified as the most affected area, only eight adults were found positive for Filaria out of 580 adults.

Another scientific test was carried out to find out the density of Filaria mosquitoes. During this test, mosquitoes will be collected by using around 30 traps and test their DNA. This test will commence next Monday, he added.