BackgroundThe World Health Organization (WHO) Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis relies on mass drug administration (MDA) of two drugs annually for 4 to 6 years. The goal is to reduce the reservoir of microfilariae in the blood to a level insufficient to maintain transmission by the mosquito vector. In 2008, the international medical aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) performed the first round of a MDA in the high-burden area of Asmat district, in Papua, Indonesia. We report the challenges faced in this MDA on a remote Indonesian island and propose solutions to overcome these hurdles in similar future contexts.ResultsDuring the MDA, we encountered difficult challenges in accessing as well as persuading the patient population to take the antifilarial drugs. Health promotion activities supporting treatment need to be adapted and repetitive, with adequate time and resources allocated for accessing and communicating with local, seminomadic populations. Distribution of bednets resulted in an increase in MDA coverage, but it was still below the 80-85% target.ConclusionsMDA for lymphatic filariasis is how the WHO has planned to eliminate the disease from endemic areas. Our programmatic experience will hopefully help inform future campaign planning in difficult-to-access, high-burden areas of the world to achieve target MDA coverage for elimination of lymphatic filariasis.

Wastewater containing dyes emanating from textile mills is strongly colored and is carcinogenic in nature. In order to reduce pollution load it is desirable to degrade the dye into non-toxic form before its discharge into the main stream. The present paper reports the photocatalytic degradation of malachite green (MG). MG is used to dye materials like silk, paper and leather. The batch experiments were carried out by irradiating the aqueous solution of dye in the presence of photocatalysts and UV light. The photocatalysts used for the study are titanium dioxide (TiO 2), zinc oxide (ZnO), and different ratios of ZnO and TiO 2. The rate of decolorization was estimated from residual concentration spectrophotometrically. The effect of process parameters viz. pH 2-9, initial concentration of dye 5-50 ppm and amount of catalyst 0.5-1.5 g/l on degradation of the dye has also been assessed. The experimental results indicated that , ZnO efficiently compete with TiO 2 in terms of percentage degradation of MG. Maximum degradation of dye occurs in acidic range with TiO 2 and at neutral pH with ZnO. When photocatalysts are mixed in different ratios, best results were obtained with ZnO and TiO 2 in the ratio of 9:1.The high decolorizing efficiency was obtained with 1.0 g/l of catalyst dose.

This work reports the selectivity and good adsorption performance for the removal of anionic dyes using an ultrasonic-synthesized terephthalaldehyde crosslinked chitosan hydrogel.

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