Health workers in Chibombo District of Central Province have declared their readiness for the upcoming Mass Drug Administration (MDA) campaign against Lymphatic Filariasis (LF), set to begin on December 10, 2025.
The campaign, running from December 10 to 18, aims to prevent Lymphatic Filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis. The Ministry of Health is urging the people of Chibombo to participate fully in this preventive exercise.
To prepare for the campaign, officials from the Ministry of Health headquarters, provincial, and district levels conducted a training program in Kabwe for over 50 health workers from 51 facilities in the district. The training emphasized the importance of MDA in combating this Neglected Tropical Disease.
Following the two-day session, participants expressed confidence. Mr. John Banda, an Environmental Health Technologist from Chitende Rural Health Centre, stated his readiness to deliver the program. His facility serves 73 villages with an estimated population of 30,431 people. He plans to collaborate closely with Community-Based Volunteers, traditional leaders, church leaders, and civic authorities to achieve high coverage. He also appealed to community members not to avoid the program, stressing the government’s goal of preventing the disease.
Another participant, Benjamin Mweemba, said the training provided the impetus needed to effectively serve the community in the field. The health workers’ expectation is to achieve nearly 100 percent coverage.
Mass Drug Administration is the strategy used to prevent populations from Neglected Tropical Diseases. In Chibombo, the campaign’s objective is to prevent infection from the lymphatic filariasis parasite, working toward the eventual elimination of the disease.
And what vaccine are they administering to the people this time…