4 November 2010 - In the Islam Qala area, on the border with Iran, a new outbreak of Leishmaniasis has recently afflicted the local population. On Saturday 30 October tens of women and men lined up at a specialized clinic supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), where patients receive free treatment.

The parasitic disease – caused by sand fly bites - leaves disfiguring skin sores which only a very painful injection of Sodium Stibogluconate, repeatedly administered, can cure.

In Khosan district of Herat province the number of infections has increased during the past few years, with an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 cases according to the provincial health department.

Mina Gul, 34, her face disfigured, can’t afford the medication to treat the disease.

“I don’t have enough money to go to the private clinics; I am relieved today that there is a free clinic here where I can go to for treatment,” she explains.

But Dr Mohammed Yonos Nadeem, head of the Leishmaniasis and Malaria National Control Programme in Herat, calls for more support:

“The injections and bed nets treated with insecticide that we have here today cover only 150 patients. This is not enough and, to better control the transmission, we need more support not only in Kohsan district but also in all parts of the province.”

In an emergency initiative WHO additionally distributed 1,200 nets treated with insecticide, to cover doors, windows or beds for 3,600 people. This is part of a larger plan to stop further transmission of the disease in the district and beyond.

By Fraidoon Poya, UNAMA