More than 10 million people have received medication by the Ghana Health Service in its programme to rid the country of elephantiasis. The programme, which started in 2001 in five districts, namely Kasena Nankana, Boosa and Sisala in the Northern sector and Winneba and Agona Nkwanta in the Southern sector had been extended to many districts across the country. The final phase of the programme has begun in the Ga West and Ga East as well as parts of Nima in the Greater Accra Region, Mr Samuel Odoom, Principal Technical Officer of the Health Research Unit of the Ghana Health Service has said. He said the programme was to interrupt transmission of the disease through annual mass drug administration. Mr Odoom said though the drugs for the programme - Albendazole and Mectizan - were expensive, they were administered at no cost to facilitate the fight for an elephantiasis-free society. He said the programme was not only to curb the transmission of the disease but also to alleviate the suffering and pain of patients for them to live a more qualitative life. Mr Odom said he was happy with the work done by his outfit, but added that a lot more still needed to be done to minimize the prevalence rate, especially in 34 districts where the disease was still present. He identified lack of logistical support, finance, refusal of some people to take the drugs and stigmatisation as some of the many challenges his outfit faced. Mr Odoom said elephantiasis was not an "evil disease" for selected groups of people, but was acquired through the bite of a female anopheles mosquito, which had the parasite, adding that anybody could acquire it. He advised members of the public to avail themselves to the drugs even in the face of reactions and take preventive measures against mosquito bites and share information about the disease with others in order to curtail its spread. Mr Odoom appealed to civil society groups, non-governmental organizations and philanthropists for donations to the research unit to ensure the success of the programme.Source: GNA