PESHAWAR: Steps to prevent skin infection yet to be taken
By Our Correspondent
PESHAWAR, April 18: The health department has so far been unable to take preventive measures against the outbreak of leishmaniasis in Hangu despite the fact that various cases of the skin infection have been reported from the district, official sources said.
The director-general of health services had received a letter from the Executive District Officer, health, of Hangu on March 27, asking for preventive measures against the disease.
Leishmaniasis causes skin lesions mainly on the face, arms and legs. Although the infection is often self-healing, it can create permanent scars on the body. Its serious type can cause permanent disability. Children, especially girls in the age group of 1-5 years, are the common victim.
The EDO in his letter has pointed out that over 6,000 cases of leishmaniasis had been reported in different parts of the district so far and asked for measures to treat the patients and stop the spread of the ailment.
"Similar letters have been received from the Executive District Officers of Mardan, Chitral, Dir, D.I. Khan, Buner, Hangu, Nowshera, Malakand, wherein help had been sought to control the spread of leishmaniasis.
However, nothing has been done so far," said a source at the health department. According to him, last year too, the Executive District Officer Hangu had written a letter but no action was taken by the authorities at that time either.
The health department instead wrote a the letter to the World Health Organization sub-office on April 4, asking it for help, which in the meantime had issued guidelines to the doctors about the treatment of the patients.
The World Health Organization has suggested that a long-term plan should be initiated by the health department to control the disease throughout the province. The treatment programme put in place in Kurram Agency could be taken as a model for implementation in Hangu, the health agency said, and expressed its willingness to help the health department in implementing such a programme in Hangu.
It said the health department had registered a drug - Stibotin (Sodium stibogluconate) - which is used for the treatment of leishmaniasis and had proposed that this drug should immediately be purchased by the Executive District Officer health Hangu for use in health outlets.
To begin with, the district authorities should ask affiliated health outlets to start monitoring leishmaniasis cases so as to get a clear picture of disease load and its prevalence in the district which is crucial for future interventions, it said.
The World Health Organization also called for rapid health assessment surveys to find a true picture of the disease. It advised the health authorities to work in collaboration with the UNHCR and other NGOs working in the area for the control of this disease.
The World Health Organization said the disease is 100 per cent curable but the treatment should be provided immediately so that it could not become epidemic, like in Kurram Agency, where the WHO had so far treated 2,000 patients.
