India
India poised to eliminate leprosy
By IANS
Jan 31, 2006, 18:48

India is close to eliminating leprosy by moving closer to the target of less than one leprosy case for every 10,000 persons, say health officials.

The prevalence rate of the debilitating disease was 57.6 cases per 10,000 before the introduction of Multi Drug Therapy (MDT) in the early 1980s, which has come down to 1.06 in November 2005.

At least 11.27 million leprosy cases have been treated in India since the introduction of multiple drug therapy and the country now has only 118,844 registered leprosy cases.

India observes Anti-Leprosy Day Jan 30.

Leprosy is caused by Mycobacterium Leprae, which primarily affects skin, mucous membranes and peripheral nerves causing deformities.

"India is on the brink of attaining leprosy elimination in a few months' time and this will be a major health milestone," S.K. Bhaghotia, state leprosy officer, Delhi, told IANS.

He, however, said there was a need to create social awareness to ensure that patients who have been cured are free of any social stigma.

So far, 17 states and union territories including Nagaland, Haryana, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura, Punjab, Sikkim and Jammu and Kashmir have attained leprosy elimination level.

But 75 percent of the cases are reported from seven states including Jharkhand (four percent), Orissa and Chhattisgarh (five percent each), Uttar Pradesh (23 percent), Bihar (17 percent), Maharashtra (11 percent) and West Bengal (10 percent).

"There is immense political will in India and the initiatives of the government in collaboration with national and international organisations have helped in attaining near elimination," said H. Pandey, national information officer, World Health Organisation (WHO), India.

"We are at present trying to achieve the target at the national level and after that the state with the maximum number of leprosy cases will be targeted in a more focused manner," Pandey said.

She said that WHO in collaboration with the central government has been closely monitoring the development in this field and suggested that the authorities heighten the awareness campaign to dispel the social stigma.

Said Indranath Banarjee, national professional officer (leprosy), WHO: "The disease is on the verge of being eliminated, but what we need to do is reach out to the masses and remove the stigma attached to the disease in our society."

WHO goodwill ambassador on leprosy, Yohoi Sasakawa, called for an "effort to sensitise people and purge society of the social stigma".

"The condition of patients treated for leprosy has improved over the years but, societal stigma persists," said Sasakawa, who is currently in Delhi.

Sasakawa's Nippon Foundation, Japan, has played a stellar role in eliminating the disease in India by providing free MDT.

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