Health Reporter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A 10-day Mass Drug Administration (MDA) program, running from September 16-28, aims to eliminate lymphatic filariasis, a disease causing severe morbidity and disfigurement, in seven districts: Mutoko, Kariba, Centenary, Chiredzi, Gutu, Gwanda, and Mhondoro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lymphatic filariasis is prevalent in 39 of Zimbabwe’s 63 districts and can cause elephantiasis, leading to swelling of limbs and genitalia. The MDA program uses triple therapy, administering Ivermectin, Albendazole, and Diethylcarbamazine to those above five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I have taken this medication because I want to protect myself from this disease that causes swelling of body parts,” says Sibanda, a villager who received treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kwanele Tshuma, a 32-year-old woman, applauded the initiative:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We heard this disease causes swelling of feet and private organs. These tablets will protect us from infection.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Village Health Worker Sithobile Bhebhe attributed the high turnout to their awareness campaign:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“People appreciate this program because they are afraid of swelling organs. We told them about symptoms and why treatment is important.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebecca Mwabvu, Head of Global Health Program at Higherlife Foundation, emphasized their investment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We want people to fulfill their purposes, and for that, they need to be healthy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Nathan Chiboiwa, Provincial Epidemiology and Diseases Control Officer, aims for 90% coverage:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Achieving high coverage will propel Zimbabwe to eliminate the disease within three cycles.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zim GBC News\u00a92024<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Health Reporter A 10-day Mass Drug Administration (MDA) program, running from September 16-28, aims to eliminate lymphatic filariasis, a disease causing severe morbidity and disfigurement, in seven districts: Mutoko, Kariba,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4480,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4478\/revisions\/4480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}