PESHAWAR, July 4: The World Health Organisation has pledged $70,000 to launch Leishmaniasis Control Programme in the country. Transmitted through the sand fly, the leishmaniasis belongs to a group of parasitic diseases. Cases are being reported from towns of the NWFP and Balochistan. In 1997, outbreak of the disease was reported from Timargara refugee camp in the NWFP. Survey results showed that 38 per cent of the camp population had been affected after the outbreak, suggesting that the infection originated from within the camp.

According to the WHO, the NWFP has 5,955,064, Balochistan 3,180,014 and Sindh 5,966,312 patients and the amount allocated by the WHO would be spent on treatment of these patients.

Another outbreak was reported from Afghanistan across the Kurram Agency border that was followed by several reports of the ailment among the agency’s residents.

About 950 cases from Larkana, Dadu and Jacobabad were reported between 1996 and 2000.

Medicines to treat the disease are not available in Pakistan, the reason being that the infection was identified only recently. Now with the help of WHO, a medicine has been registered and a local firm is also manufacturing it. But the locally made medicine is still not easily available and the brand that is usually available in the market is of French origin and is smuggled into the country. As a result, the cost of treatment with this brand is high.

About 92 per cent of the households interviewed in Kurram Agency were from the middle and 8 per cent from the poor income groups.

Women and children are the most common victims of the disease. It has devastating effects on communities because of its clinical symptoms, such as large multiple disfiguring lesions that can lead to social ostracism of affected people.

There have been regular reports of leishmaniasis in Pakistan in official communications from the EDO health offices of different districts.

As of today there was no staff for leishmaniasis control program and the federal ministry of health had asked the Malaria Control Program staff to look after this program as well.

The proposal to launch anti Leishmaniasis programme was prepared by WHO in consultation with the health departments of all the four provinces. Calculations and estimates are based on the actual need as assessed by the officials of health departments.

Only high risk districts have been selected for intervention and once the program is well established in these districts interventions would be expanded to rest of the districts.

Because of dearth of resources the program would initially focus on four areas, i.e. awareness of media and masses about the disease, building of surveillance system, training of health professionals on diagnosis and treatment of the disease and purchase and delivery of medicine to the affected districts.

There is lack of accurate data on leishmaniasis prevalence due to which it is impossible to know severity of the problem and chalk out preventive strategies. The disease is not part of the HMIS system, nor it is among priority diseases that are being monitored through this system.