|
PANCHAGARH, Mar 10 (UNB): Muktar Ali has lost his desire to live a long life because the young man has been detached gradually from his family members and others for being affected with a disease a simple tablet could have prevented.
Ali's is not a one-off case. Thousands of people are subject to similar social stigmas in Bangladesh only for a lack of awareness about the crippling ailment, filariasis.
The 28-year-old young man, a barber by profession, was not too aware like many others in the same situation about the consequence when he first detected that his left leg was swelling up gradually 16-17 years ago following a mosquito-bite.
"First, I took treatment from a clinic in Dhaka on the advice of a relative. But the treatment didn't work and my left leg continued to swell. By the time I learnt that the disease spreads through a mosquito bite, my life had already become unbearable to me," said Ali while talking to journalists at this northern tip of Bangladesh.
"I used to suffer from fever before consulting the doctors when the Filariasis Elimination Programme started from Panchagarh district in 2001. At the initial stage of the programme, tablets Diethylcarbamazine (DEC) and Albendazole were supplied to people in the northern district.
Later, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) got involved with the Filariasis Elimination Programme and they have been supplying valuable medicines since May 2004.
Five JOCV (Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers) Programme members have been working in civil surgeon offices in the backwoods like Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Dinajpur, Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat districts since May 2004 on a mission to eliminate the disease that gradually disables affected people.
Since their engagement with the programme, the JOCV members have disseminated information to the villagers about filariasis and tried to involve school students, union parishad members, NGO workers and other organisations for the success of the programme.
"My left leg is now in a stable condition (size not increasing). I feel better as I've got rid of the regular fever with the valuable consultation with the doctors, although I have lost the desires of life because of the already swollen left leg," Ali said.
Filariasis Elimination Programme Manager Moazzem Hossain said over one crore people in 32 districts are now under the threat of filariasis, and the numbers of affected people are increasing for lack of awareness.
|