India conducts nation-wide survey on leprosy even as fresh cases reported in Pune

India is planning to carry out a nation-wide survey on leprosy as the country is still posed with the challenge of the infectious disease.

Fresh cases of leprosy are reported from several pockets in India despite intense efforts to eradicate the disease, which is once associated with poverty and poor hygiene.

As part of the National Sample Survey that will be taken up by the central leprosy division working under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, a study will be carried out in Pune, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra to assess the active new case detection rate (ANCDR) of leprosy in the city.

Pune has recently reported as many as 30 new active cases of leprosy in the city.

The survey will also collect the data related to disability and stigma associated with this disease among the people in the city.

The leprosy survey will cover various places and include Kondhwa, Ramwadi and Kalyaninagar of Pune city. It will also include slum areas of Janata Vasahat Parvati, Ramwadi and Dandekar and hopes to cover almost 2.5 lakh people.

The survey is expected to be completed by the end of September.

The main survey will be carried out by the health workers including panchayat members. An experienced team of doctors will also look carefully at all the suspected cases. Another team of doctors will confirm these cases, reports said.

The final report of the survey would be readied by the end of November and submitted to a Parliamentary committee by March 2011. The Union Government would then frame a national policy to deal with leprosy disease in the country.

THe diagnosis and treatment of leprosy is easy and most endemic countries are striving to fully integrate leprosy services into existing general health services.

Access to information, diagnosis and treatment with multidrug therapy (MDT) remain key elements in the strategy to eliminate the disease as a public health problem, defined as reaching a prevalence of less than 1 leprosy case per 10,000 population. Multi drug therapy (MDT) has been made available by WHO free of charge to all patients worldwide since 1995, and provides a simple yet highly effective cure for all types of leprosy.

According to official reports received during 2008 from 118 countries and territories, the global registered prevalence of leprosy at the beginning of 2008 stood at 212,802 cases, while the number of new cases detected during 2007 was 254,525 (excluding the small number of cases in Europe). The number of new cases detected globally has fallen by 11,100 cases (a 4% decrease) during 2007 compared with 2006.

Most previously highly endemic countries have now reached elimination. During 2007, both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique reached this important stage. Those few countries that remain are very close to eliminating the disease. However, pockets of high endemicity still remain in some areas of Angola, Brazil, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nepal, and the United Republic of Tanzania. These countries remain highly committed to eliminating the disease, and continue to intensify their leprosy control activities.

Information campaigns about leprosy in high risk areas are crucial so that patients and their families, who were historically ostracized from their communities, are encouraged to come forward and receive treatment. The most effective way of preventing disabilities in leprosy, as well as preventing further transmission of the disease, lies in early diagnosis and treatment with MDT.