A campaign to administer medicine to elephants has begun in Kapilvastu. This medicine was administered here for the 17th time on Sunday. Health Minister Sudha Sharma launched the campaign, which will run from November 7 to 21, by administering the medicine herself at the assembly hall in Kapilvastu Municipality.

The campaign has been extended after the disease was not eradicated even after the 16th dose. The District Health Office has stated that 374,000 people from 6 local levels of the district will be given medicine this year. One health worker and one female volunteer will go door to door to administer the medicine.

Earlier, people used to leave their homes whether they took the medicine or not, but now they will be allowed to return after taking the medicine in the presence of health workers, said Kedarnath Shah, Senior Vector Control Inspector at the District Health Office. He said that after two weeks of the campaign, a monitoring team will be sent to investigate and identify those who did not take the medicine and administer the medicine. After the campaign, the district will be completely eradicated from the district after intensive monitoring at least twice, said Gaurav Dhakal, Chief of the District Health Office. 

The district was divided into two groups and the 16th dose of medicine was eradicated from Buddhabhumi, Shivaraj and Banganga municipalities and Vijayanagar rural municipality. When testing the blood of 609 people who took the medicine, less than one percent of them were found to have the parasite microfilariae, which causes elephantiasis. However, in the other group, more than one percent (1.31 percent) of the 609 people in Maharajgunj, Kapilvastu and Krishnanagar municipalities and Yashodhara, Mayadevi, and Suddhodhan rural municipalities, when testing the blood of 609 people, the parasite microfilariae, which causes elephantiasis, were found. If the parasite microfilariae, which causes elephantiasis, is found in less than one percent of the tested blood, it is considered to have been eradicated. Otherwise, it must be re-fed. 

Kedarnath Shah, Senior Vector Control Inspector at the Health Office, said that elephantiasis has not yet been eradicated in Kapilvastu, Banke, Sarlahi, Rautahat and Jhapa, including the country. However, due to lack of budget, the campaign has been launched only in Kapilvastu this year. The WHO Nepal Office has provided support for this. 

Initially, the district where the drug campaign was launched since 2007 was supposed to eradicate elephantiasis in 2013. However, it did not happen. During the period, six years after the drug was administered, blood tests showed elephantiasis parasites exceeding the minimum standard. In 2013, blood samples were tested and 4.7 percent showed elephantiasis parasites. In blood samples of 2,692 students from 40 schools, 27 people tested positive for elephantiasis parasites.

Nepal had set a target to eradicate elephantiasis by 2020 itself. However, since the achievement could not be achieved, it has set a new target of eradication by 2030. However, Ram Kumar Mahato, Public Health Officer of the Epidemiology Division of the Health Services Department, said that Nepal is working to eradicate elephantiasis even before that period. 

Nothing is known until the elephantiasis parasites cause problems. If the hands and feet swell due to this mosquito-borne disease, it is not cured. People with disabilities and disabilities have to live a difficult life.

The increase in the incidence of elephantiasis parasites due to lack of awareness and illiteracy has led to an increase in the incidence of elephantiasis parasites, said Dhakal, the head of the District Health Office. Initially, in eastern Nepal, there were rumors of various problems among people who had taken the medicine, but now the trend of not taking the medicine has increased. After rumors spread in the villages that people had headaches, vomiting and body aches after taking the medicine, people who took the medicine also hesitated.