Congratulations are in order
Congratulations are in order
For Bangladesh, Laos, Maldives and North Korea
During the past couple of weeks, we have seen some amazing news on the global health front involving several countries and their success in battling certain infectious diseases. Let’s take a look at these great achievements:
Bangladesh
The South Asian country of Bangladesh eliminated visceral leishmaniasis as a public health problem, according to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) announcement.
According to WHO, Bangladesh has become the first country globally to be validated for elimination of visceral leishmaniasis or kala azar, a life-threatening neglected tropical disease. The country achieved the elimination target of less than one case per 10,000 population at the sub-district (upazilla) level in 2017 and has sustained it to date despite disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leishmaniasis in the US with Naomi Aronson, MD
Visceral leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease that is transmitted by the sandfly which affects several internal organs (usually spleen, liver, and bone marrow) and can be life threatening.
Laos
In addition, WHO announced last month that the Lao People’s Democratic Republic has eliminated lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem.
“Our country’s achievement has been made possible through years of collective efforts by dedicated health workers together with support from WHO and partners, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Asian Development Bank, the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, Family Health International (FHI 360) and RTI International,” says Dr Bounfeng Phoummalaysith. “Lymphatic filariasis will never regain a foothold in our country. We will continue to maintain our efforts to prevent and control the disease through surveillance and respond quickly to any cases.”
Laos joins 12 other countries and areas in the Western Pacific Region that have achieved this milestone since 2000, including Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue, the Marshall Islands, Palau, the Republic of Korea, Tonga, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, and Wallis and Futuna.
Lymphatic filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis, is a parasitic disease spread by mosquitoes that causes the enlargement of body parts, often resulting in pain, severe disability, stigma and associated economic hardship.
Maldives
The archipelagic state and country in South Asia, situated in the Indian Ocean, Maldives has interrupted the transmission of leprosy, according to WHO. They become the first country to do so.
They achieved the milestone of no child case detection for more than five consecutive years.
An independent assessment team from WHO highlighted high political will and community motivation - along with strong health systems and minimal evidence of stigma and discrimination towards persons affected by leprosy - as the key factors for the island nation’s success.
North Korea
Lastly, it was announced that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had eliminated endemic rubella virus from the country.
North Korea introduced the measles-rubella vaccine into standard childhood immunization programmes in November 2019 after successfully carrying out a wide age range immunization campaign targeting nine month to 15-year-old children and 16 to 18-year-old women with measles and rubella vaccines.
Through this mass immunization activity, achieving more than 99.8 per cent coverage in a target population of around six million, the country rapidly built substantial population immunity for rubella.