Nagpur division has 77% of Maharashtra's filaria patients, Chandrapur worst hit with 9,180

Nagpur division carries the heaviest burden of filaria, or elephantiasis, in Maharashtra. According to 2025 figures, 28,114 filaria patients were recorded in the state. Of these, 21,664 are in the six districts of Nagpur division.

This means Nagpur division alone accounts for about 77 per cent of the state's total patients. Within the division, Chandrapur is the worst-affected district, with 9,180 patients recorded. The figures add to the importance of the ongoing campaign to control the disease and stop new infections.

Patients are not spread evenly across the six districts. Of the division's 21,664 patients, 13,317 are in Chandrapur and Nagpur districts alone, about 61.5 per cent of the division's total.

The public health department is running a mass drug administration (MDA) campaign to stop the spread of filaria. Most cases recorded in the division are old, chronic ones. Such patients need care to manage the long-term effects of the disease, while delivering medicines to the eligible population is key to preventing new infections.

For filaria elimination, the Centre began an MDA campaign on February 10 in 124 districts of 12 states. The target is to eliminate the disease by 2027.

Under the campaign in Nagpur division, medicine was given to 15,27,813 eligible people in 11 identified blocks of Chandrapur, Bhandara and Gadchiroli districts. That is, medicine reached about 15.27 lakh people in these 11 blocks.

Health workers and ASHA workers went door to door, besides working at drug distribution centres, to try to ensure that people took the medicine. The campaign used triple drug therapy (IDA) of DEC, albendazole and ivermectin.