No report on Kala Azar impact in Bihar released: MSF

New Delhi: Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says that it has been on the frontline of diagnosing and treating Kala Azar in Bihar and has treated more than 12,000 patients since 2007.

However, its press officer DVL Padma Priya has clarified that MSF has not issued any report on the incidence rate of Kala Azar in Bihar or other endemic areas in India. 

A news report by IANS on Wednesday had quoted a report purported to be from MSF which said that thousands of people in over 11,000 villages in Bihar had been affected by Kala Azar.

Priya said the National Kala Azar Elimination Programme was firmly on the ground, focused on bringing down the incidence rate to 1 case per 10,000 population at the sub-district level. "With the availability of the new first-line treatment, elimination of the disease is no more a pipe dream," she said.

Kala azar is a deadly parasitic disease transmitted by the tiny sand fly.