ADRA and Guyanese Government Partner to Combat Parasitic Diseases
Albendazole tablets, and salt fortified with diethylcarbamazine (DEC), which is shown here, are two methods that are widely used to control lymphatic filariasis. (Photo Credit: WHO/TDR/Crump)
SILVER SPRING, Md.—In coastal areas of Guyana, where parasitic diseases are endemic, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is partnering with the government to reduce infections, the agency reports.
Through a partnership with the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Guyana, ADRA provided an estimated 50,000 doses of albendazole, a drug used to treat lymphatic filariasis, also known as Elephantiasis, and other parasitic worm infections, for distribution within the targeted coastal region where approximately 80 percent of the country’s population lives.
The distribution is part of a larger program launched by the MOH to eliminate lymphatic filariasis and other parasitic diseases in Guyana by 2012. Vulnerable communities are expected to receive deworming medications, such as diethylcarbamazine (DEC), and albendazole, to help those already infected.
“The albendazole provided by ADRA will compliment the DEC Salt program in a direct way, and help to reduce worm infestation among children in Guyana,” said Alexander Isaacs, country director for ADRA Guyana. “We are pleased to partner with the MOH in this national initiative.”
Guyanese health officials plan to work with communities to replace ordinary iodized cooking salt in local households with DEC-fortified salt, which eliminates filarial worms in the blood.
ADRA is partnering with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Guyanese partners include the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports, the Neighborhood Democratic Councils, the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana, the Guyana Council of Churches, the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha, the Inter-Religious Organization of Guyana, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Guyana, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Guyana.
Funders for ADRA’s component of this project include ADRA International, the ADRA office in the Inter-American region located in Miami, Florida, the ADRA office for the Caribbean Union of Seventh-day Adventists, and ADRA Guyana.
Around the world, lymphatic filariasis affects more than 120 million people, causing serious disfiguration in approximately 40 million of its victims, making it one of the leading causes of disability, and a major contributor to poverty.
ADRA is a non-governmental organization present in 125 countries providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race or ethnicity.
Author: Nadia McGill
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