Encephalitis stalks many villages in Uttar Pradesh

 
Every year Japanese Encephalitis claims thousands of lives especially those of children in the districts of Gorakhpur, Siddharthnagar, Deoria, Kushinagar and others.

With virtually no facilities to diagnose and treat the disease at government-run hospitals, the disease acquires the form of an epidemic during and after the rains. With the government machinery and people’s representatives ignoring the repeated pleas to take steps to combat the deadly disease, people have taken up the cudgel themselves to fight the Japanese Encephalitis and make their villages “Japanese Encephalitis free.”

 A team of volunteers led by a local doctor has been engaged in the work of identifying the Japanese Encephalitis-prone villages and those where no vaccination against the Japanese Encephalitis had been taken up. “We have decided to launch an extensive awareness campaign in the villages in the districts so that the disease can be prevented,” said Dr R N Singh, team leader and convener of the Encephalitis Eradication Movement.

He said self-help groups would be formed to spread awareness among the villagers.
“There are some simple precautions the people can take to combat the disease.... prevent stagnation of water and keep the environs clean,” he says. “To start with, five villages will be adopted for the purpose of making them Japanese Encephalitis free,” he said.

Singh had also written a letter in blood to Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi drawing his attention towards the Japanese Encephalitis menace, but nothing was done to combat the disease, he said.