Kala Azar, a deadly parasitic disease, is very close to elimination in India. As per the World Health Organisation, the definition of elimination is the annual incidence of less than one case per 10,000 population at block level. The last few districts which are on the borderline remain in Jharkhand, and public officials appear confident that this year, the country may achieve the elimination target. The target has to be kept for 3 years for it to receive a WHO tag.

Suno India is publishing a series of podcasts related to Kala Azar elimination. Suno India’s Menaka Rao travelled to Jharkhand and Bihar for the reporting of these podcasts. Reporting for this story was supported by the MSF-DNDi Grant on Neglected Tropical Diseases as part of the Without Borders Media Fellowship. The fellowship encourages independent, impartial and neutral reporting on health and humanitarian crises.

In the first episode of this mini-series, Suno India’s consulting editor Menaka Rao talks about the challenges of another complication related to kala-azar called Post Kala-azar Dermal Leishmaniasis. This can manifest in about 5-10% of patients who recovered from kala-azar. This disease is now scientifically proven to spread kala-azar in the community. This disease is hard to detect, and cure. Menaka speaks to persons affected by this disease, and other health workers who are trying hard to control it in the community. 

References

Kala-azar in India – progress and challenges towards its elimination as a public health problem

KALA-AZAR SITUATION IN INDIA

Kala Azar and its subsequent skin manifestation, PKDL, shattered these women's lives, left them with uncertainty, stigma

Xenodiagnosis to evaluate the infectiousness of humans to sandflies in an area endemic for visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar, India: a transmission-dynamics study

Ten years of kala-azar in west Bengal, Part I. Did post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis initiate the outbreak in 24-Parganas? - PMC

DNDi’s Centres of Excellence: Towards the sustainable elimination of visceral leishmaniasis in India

Safety and Effectiveness of Miltefosine in Post–Kala-Azar Dermal Leishmaniasis: An Observational Study - PMC

Kala Azar and its subsequent skin manifestation, PKDL, shattered these women's lives, left them with uncertainty, stigma