Tambacounda, May 31 (APS) – The regional health directorate (DRS) of Tambacounda (east) will launch a mass distribution campaign for drugs for the treatment of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) from June 3 to 7. said, Friday, the head of the regional health education and information office, Mabinta Sambou.
”The objective of this campaign is to contribute to the reduction of morbidity and complications linked to NTDs. It is a campaign initiated in the region by the management for around fifteen years,” Ms. Sambou told APS.
”This year, we will administer the drugs +braziquantel+ to children aged between 5 and 14 years old in relation to schistosomiasis (bilharzia). Medicines will also be administered to young people aged over 15, in areas where the disease is widespread,” she said.
She explained that “braziquantel” is a medicine intended to fight against bilharzia, a disease whose development conditions are met, in the region of Tambacounda (east), bordering Guinea, Mali and Mauritania.
“With these countries, we share different waterways where schistosomiasis is present,” she said, emphasizing that “the local populations bathe and drink in these waterways, especially children, which is the cause of bilharziasis, a disease which still rages in the region”.
Mabinta Sambou indicated that the administration of drugs will be done in two stages in the Tambacounda region. She called on parents to facilitate the work of agents on the ground.
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