A rapid method to assess the coverage of the mass drug administration of diethylcarbamazine in the program to eliminate lymphatic filariasis in India.

A rapid method to assess the coverage of mass drug administration (MDA) in the program to eliminate lymphatic filariasis needs to be developed for monitoring and evaluation of the program. This study attempted to develop and test a method of rapid assessment of coverage by using the existing resources of the program. This is based on the data obtained from the randomly selected health workers and drug distributors involved in the drug distribution process and the data of a household coverage survey of the program. The MDA coverage rate obtained through the evaluation survey was highly correlated with the rates obtained from health workers and drug distributors as a rapid assessment. Thus, MDA coverages assessed through health workers and drug distributors can give a good coverage estimate. The involvement of the existing human resources of the program in this rapid method of assessing MDA coverage was cost-effective.