author = {Haldar, Dibakar. and Saha, Sanjay. and Dwari, Amiya. and Biswas, Daliya. and Lo, Sourav. and Naskar, Saswati. and Sarkar, Gautam.}, title = {{Coverage of mass drug administration and status of mass drug administration program in Bankura district of West Bengal, India}}, journal ={International Journal of Health & Allied Sciences}, volume ={6}, number ={3}, pages = {137-142}, doi = {10.4103/ijhas.IJHAS_23_17}, year = {2017}, abstract ={ Background: Government of India adopted mass drug administration (MDA) since 2004 for elimination of lymphatic filariasis (LF) by 2015 AD. MDA implementation in WB has been criticized for low coverage and Government of West Bengal (WB) emphasized directly observed therapy (DOT) (swallowing of medicines under supervision) in MDA implementation. Objective: The objective of the study was to assess coverage of MDA and status of MDA program. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in three subcenters of three blocks and three wards of Bankura municipality of Bankura district, WB, selected by multistage random sampling technique. Information was collected through interviewing randomly selected inhabitants; ground level workers and block level supervisors of selected clusters with verification of records/logistics used in MDA at clusters and leftover medicines at households. Results: Around two-third of respondents knew LF among which 83.33% considered limb swelling as an important symptom and 30.34% knew about transmission. Appropriate distribution and consumption of both MDA medicines were 70.10% and 56.20% with 64.89% consumption being supervised. Information education and communication and monitoring were suboptimal including utilization of strength and opportunity of MDA program. Conclusion: Supervised medicine consumption was found marginally increased seemingly due to DOT through repeat house visits, but effective coverage fell short of target as a result of dismal low coverage in urban cluster. }, URL ={https://www.ijhas.in/article.asp?issn=2278-344X;year=2017;volume=6;issue=3;spage=137;epage=142;aulast=Haldar;t=6}, eprint ={https://www.ijhas.in/article.asp?issn=2278-344X;year=2017;volume=6;issue=3;spage=137;epage=142;aulast=Haldar;t=6} }