Mass Drugs Administration in India - A Failure Story

Abstract

Lymphatic Filariasis (LF), a mosquito borne parasitic disease, has been endemic in India since antiquity. Following World Health Assembly Resolution (1997), India launched annual Mass Drugs Administration (MDA) in 2004 as strategy to eliminated LF. The drugs consumption was persistently low due to different operational and behavioral problems and lack of public health approaches. The country has already missed elimination target of 2015 as per National Health Policy and sure to fail to achieve WHO target of elimination by 2020. The author has suggested switching over to use of DEC medicated salt in place of MDA in endemic areas being simple, cost effective, scientific and socially acceptable tool to achieve elimination of LF quickly and without hassle of indefinite rounds of MDA.