Context: In a significant step forward towards eliminating Kala Azar, India has achieved the target of reporting less than one case per 10,000 population across all blocks in 2023. (633 blocks, mainly in four states Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, where the disease was endemic).
- For eradicating the parasitic disease, India has to keep case count below 1 per 10,000 population in all blocks for two more years.
Kala Azar:
- Visceral leishmaniasis or kala-azar is a slow progressing Neglected Tropical Disease caused by a protozoan parasite of genus Leishmania.
- The zoonotic infection is transmitted by the sand fly (a blood-sucking pest) found in moist (humid) mud and sand close to livestock.
- The parasite primarily infects the reticuloendothelial system and may be found in abundance in bone marrow, spleen and liver.
- Signs and symptoms: Fever, weight loss, fatigue, anaemia, and enlargement of the liver and spleen.
- Occurrence: It is the second-largest parasitic killer in the world after Malaria. Mainly affects poor people in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and is associated with malnutrition, population displacement, poor housing, weak immune system and lack of financial resources.
- It is treatable and requires a medical diagnosis. If left untreated, the fatality rate in developing countries is over 95%.
- Some of the kala-azar cases manifest as Post Kala-azar Dermal Leishmaniasis (PKDL) after a few years of treatment.
- PKDL is a condition when Leishmania invades skin cells, resides and develops there and manifests as dermal lesions.
National Kala-Azar Elimination:
- India’s National Health Policy (2002) envisaged kala-azar Elimination by 2010, which was later extended to 2015, 2017, and then 2020. Now, Kala-azar is targeted for elimination by 2023 through World Health Organisation’s Neglected Tropical Disease RoadMap goal is 2030.