KOCHI: As part of eradicating filariasis from Ernakulam, the district health department will carry out a drive to collect blood samples for testing from children between the age of five and nine at 16 centres.
According to the health department sources, the inauguration of the programme will be held at Rameshwaram colony on Thursday.
“The filariasis eradication programme was first launched in 2000 in the district under which a mass drug administration and annual night-time blood testing drives at 16 centres were conducted. However, these tests didn’t throw out any carriers of the disease in the district. So, activities have been launched in the district to go in for total eradication of the disease after investigating the results of the programme,” said Abdul Jabbar, district vector control unit senior biologist.
“As part of this, blood samples were collected from children born after 2015, 2017 and 2019 for the transition assessment survey. With the survey finishing successfully, the district deserves to be declared filariasis free,” he added. As part of easing the pain of those who contracted the disease, morbidity centres have been opened at select district and taluk hospitals, said health officials.