The exercise, which began on Monday and ends on July 26, forms part of national efforts to eliminate Neglected Tropical Dis­eases (NTDs) as a public health threat by 2030.

While 77 districts across the 16 regions endemic for onchocercia­sis are being targeted, to reach at least 5.8 million people with pre­scribed medications, three districts in three regions where elephan­tiasis is prevalent will be covered under the MDA, covering 440,000 people in the exercise.

The Director General, Dr Pat­rick Kuma-Aboagye, making the announcement at a news confer­ence, explained that all persons above five years, except pregnant women, were eligible to receive the drugs.

He indicated that officials from the GHS would move from house­holds to households to administer drugs to target individuals, urging resident to avail themselves for the MDA.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye said river blindness was endemic in 31 coun­tries in sub-Saharan Africa, includ­ing Ghana, hence the initiation of MDA since 1997.

He said the main strategy for the control and elimination of riv­er blindness was the interruption of causative agent of transmission through the annual MDA using Ivermectin drugs.

“Although considerable progress has been made in the control of onchocerciasis, there is still an enormous task ahead to achieve the global target of elimination by 2030,” he said.

The Director of Public Health, Dr Franklin Aseidu- Bekoe, ex­plained that elephantiasis occurred when filarial parasites were trans­mitted to humans through infected mosquitoes, often occurring in childhood and leading to a hidden damage of the lymphatic system.

He indicated that the elephan­tiasis was endemic in 116 districts across the country although trans­mission of the infection had been interrupted in 109 districts.

“The painful and profoundly disfiguring visible manifestations of the disease-lymphoedema, elephantiasis and scrotal swell­ing occur later in life and these patients are not only physically disabled, but suffer mental, social and financial losses, contributing to stigma and poverty,” he added.

Caused by a parasitic worm called Onchocerca volvulus, human onchocerciasis is a disease of the skin and eye spread through repeated bites of an infected blackfly known scientifically as Simulium.

Onchocerciasis is also called river blindness because the black­fly that transmits the infection breeds in rapidly flowing rivers and streams and causes blindness, making people living in the enclave of such water bodies more vulner­able to the disease.

People with heavy infections usually develop conditions such as unrelenting itching, unsightly skin disease, nodules under the skin, or eye disease which results in severe visual impairment and blindness.