A Nation
U N B U R D E N E D
Elimination of Lymphatic
Filariasis in Maldives
Photo: Ministry of Health, Maldives
The Game Changers
In 2016, Maldives was validated by the World Health
Organization as one of only two countries in the
WHO South-East Asia Region to have successfully
eliminated lymphatic filariasis as a public health
problem. This achievement was the result of the
collaboration between WHO and the Ministry of
Health that began in 1951, the political commitment
of the Government of Maldives, intensified efforts of
the National Filaria Control Programme that began
in 1968, and the unflagging determination of
frontline health workers.
The success of Maldives testifies to the effectiveness
of the strategies recommended under the Global
Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis
(GPELF). The achievements were possible due to
sustained commitment to case finding, monitoring
implementation and coverage, and the effectiveness
of mass drug administration (MDA), integrated
vector control, morbidity management and
preven-tive chemotherapy.
Children of Maldives can now look forward to a
future free from this debilitating and stigmatizing
Neglected Tropical Disease.
Unswerving political commitment and allocation of dedicated financial resources for case
detection and treatment since 1968.
Intensified case detection, treatment, and vector control activities since 1984 reducing the number
of endemic islands in Maldives to just one by the time MDA began in 2004.
Continued antigenemia surveillance on all islands in Maldives and among foreign migrants since
2007 to monitor and detect any LF transmission.
Systematic elimination of breeding habitats of the vector
Culex quinquefasicatus.
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