KATHMANDU: Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) and District Public Health Office are distributing medicine of Lymphatic Filariasis, otherwise known as Elephantiasis, on February 20 and 21 in all wards of the Kathmandu Valley. The medicine is being distributed for the first time in the Valley.

Dr Babu Ram Gautam, chief of KMC public health division, said that they are distributing the medicine from Dhumbarahi clinic, KMC-4. KMC has the target of distributing the medicine to two million people in the Valley. They have also fielded one supervisor and 3,200 volunteers in each ward.

On February 13 and 14, the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) had organised a mass drug administration programme in 19 districts.

This time, they are distributing the medicine in 11 districts. Nepal has set the target of eliminating the disease by the end of 2015.

According to the World Health Organisation, more than a billion people are at risk in around 83 countries. Over 120 million have already been affected by the disease, where over 40 million of them are seriously incapacitated and disfigured.