door to door

MDA (mass drug administration) is an easy enough concept to grasp- reach out to the community by going door to door and locating yourself in a central location, outside a the normal clinical setting, where people can reach the needed 'drug.' These programs are often difficult to carry out, but in a country of under a million, it's totally feasible.

For this program we were trying to eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis. The MDA was successfully eradicated the worm in Tonga, but has yet to be successful in Fiji. So this year, again, we packed our bags with mild de-worming drugs and went door to door passing out the tablets provided by WHO.

Lymphatic Filariasis (more commonly known as Elephantitis) is caused by a filarial worm carried by mosquitoes. The worm, Wuchereria bancrofti and Brugia malayi, lodges itself into the lymphatic system - which is why it generally presents inflammation in the genital area. The growth that people are most familiar with takes years to manifest, which is why it is important to continue taking de-worming drugs annually until the worm is fully eradicated, and also why we went door to door passing out these drugs.

People were generally receptive and took the tablets. Those who were not, were shown pictures of people living in Fiji who were unfortunate enough to be affected. This method was quite useful.



Staff Nurse Kesa- who took my on as her volunteer for the program.

Nurses and volunteers getting ready to leave