 |
LEPROSY CONTROL THROUGHOUT THE WORLD - REPORTS
# INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ANTI-LEPROSY ASSOCIATIONS (ILEP) -- check out reports from ILEP's 20 odd Member Associations.
Leprosy Control in the African nations
Leprosy Control in Asia
Leprosy Control in South East Asia
Leprosy Control in South American nations
Leprosy Control - General - in any except the above
LEPROSY - THE PRESENT SITUATION - DECEMBER 1997
It has to be admitted that, since the introduction of Multi-Drug-Therapy (MDT), in 1982, there has been a remarkable improvement in the situation, with MDT making an enormous effect upon the program of controlling this disease.
As well as the recognised success of MDT as a treatment for the disease, with the minimum of relapses, MDT has brought with it a change in the definition of a “Case of Leprosy”. This has led to a major review of leprosy registers. Together, these have resulted in a large reduction of quoted registered cases from 5.3 million in 1985 to less than 1 million in 1996.
In all this outstanding success, THE LEPROSY MISSION INTERNATIONAL (TLM) has played a significant role and we thank TLM for these statistics.
During the same period, the World Health Organisation has maintained an extremely effective campaign to promote leprosy work among governments and NGO’s, and to ensure that there has been a plentiful supply of free drugs available. These measures have brought success as the WHO has concentrated on the goal of reducing the number of registered cases of leprosy to below 1 per 10,000 population.
This goal and its near achievement has hit the international headlines , and has, in some circles, suggested that leprosy is on the way out. While much has been achieved, the fact remains, however, that the number of newly detected cases has remained fairly constant over the same period of time at around 600,000 each year. Also, in addition to the 890,000 registered cases in 1996, there may be over 4 million people who have had leprosy and live with impairment or disability.
Thus the total burden of leprosy, while consistently dropping, is not doing so as fast as the official statistics suggest. It can be estimated that the number of people who have the disease and so need medical treatment, or have had the disease and so need follow-up and long-term care, is around 5 milion.
ARRESTING TRANSMISSION:- Presently, the most effective method of arresting the transmission of leprosy is early detection and proper treatment. Major efforts have been put in by governments and NGO’s alike, to develop new programmes to seek out and treat in their earliest possible stages.
The WHO has recently recommended new drug regimens which could reduce treatment times, and thus reduce the number of defaulters.
While no specific vaccination has yet been identified, it has been recently shown that some protection is given after a second BCG injection. However, widespread vaccination campaigns are not considered worthwhile.
Research continues to develop specific skin tests to identify immunity levels to mycobacterium leprae, and thus identify people most at risk in the community.
LOW ENDEMIC AREAS:- As a result of these successes, more countries and regions are becoming low endemic, and increasingly the challenge is to run effective leprosy programmes in areas where cases are scattered and few. There is a growing drive to integrate leprosy services into primary health care programmes, or to set up specialised programmes dealing with combined health care issues like leprosy and T.B.. This approach is now widely recognised as the only way to ensure the long-term sustainability of leprosy services.
CHANGING INTERNATIONAL PROFILE:- Since 1991, the WHO has been working towards the year 2000 as the target date to achieve the prevalence goal of less than 1 case per 10,000 population. In the intervening years, WHO has made it increasingly obvious that there could be a dramatic scaling down of leprosy unit facilities after that date.
While it is expected that many governments will still maintain a commitment to leprosy, it is difficult to see how they will have the same dynamic without the present pressure from the WHO. Already, governments rely heavily on the NGO sector for assistance in leprosy work and this can be expected to increase.
#FORUM ON LEPROSY - meet some of the world's leading leprologists and prepare yourself for the introduction of WHO's new strategy when, at the end of 1999, those once-endemic areas where the Prevalence Rate of leprosy has fallen to below one case per 10,000 population, will cease to receive WHO funding. Instead, all leprosy work will be conducted through the regular public health system. This is just fine, if medical personnel know how to diagnose leprosy and manage difficult cases of Reactional States. Leprosy will still be around for quite some time. Are you able to properly diagnose the disease? If not, then please consider joining our FORUM ON LEPROSY.
CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO MAIN PAGE
If you would like to contact me, please access our LINK-SITE then go to the bottom of that page and CLICK on my email address.
THIS SITE WAS LAST UPDATED ON 17th. JANUARY 1999
THE CHALLENGE OF LEPROSY
THE LEPROSY MISSION INTERNATIONAL
LEPROSY FORUM
WAYS OF HELPING LEPROSY SUFFERERS PRACTICALLY
INDEX TO ALL OUR PERSONAL WEB-SITES
Send E-Mail to: keithskilli@ozemail.com.au
Copyright © 2007 Keith Skillicorn. All Rights Reserved