Encouraged by the positive response from its first lCDC (leprosy Cases Detection Campaign) undertaken on the lines of the pulse polio drive in March and April, the Union Health Ministry will soon launch yet another fortnight long such campaign to identify the cases of the crippling disease in 163 leprosy-endemic districts in 20 States.
"We will request President Pranab Mukherjee to launch the campaign to support the cause which is mired with taboos, ignorance as well as apathy," said a senior official from the Ministry.
Around 40 crore people will be covered during the campaign which involves identification, treatment and awareness about the disease which despite being eliminated in 2005 continue to prove scourage for the country.
A first of its kind initiative undertaken in the country, lCDC is primarily a door to door search of leprosy cases with physical examination and identification of suspects followed by confirmation accompanied with inbuilt component of supervision and monitoring. The exercise aims at not missing any case in the community, the official added.
It involves focused training of all health functionaries from district to village level, house to house visits by team encompassing one Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) and male volunteer i.e. field level worker and intensive IEC activities, through mikes & display of banners/posters during and before the campaign.
In the first campaign, States like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh were selected for lCDC on the basis of Prevalence Rate (PR) of districts ranging from 1-1.36 per 10,000 population. Fifty districts of these States were included in this campaign.
Sunil Vilasrao Gitte from Regional leprosy Training and Research Institute, under DGHS, Health Ministry who followed the campaign in Chattisgarh agreed that sustained surveillance is the need of the hour.
In Chattisgarh, he said during the campaign, 86 per cent of the population was covered in 20 blocks of the state and 4004 leprosy suspected cases were registered for confirmation.
"151(19 per cent of total annual new detected) cases were confirmed as of leprosy and enrolled for MDT (Multi Drug Therapy) of which 86 (57 per cent) were Grade I case while 65 (43 per cent) Grade II cases. As compared to the year 2014-15, there was 181 per cent change in case detection due to this campaign," he noted.
The only way of ensuring that all new cases are detected is to record them as soon as they occur to improve the coverage and by involving Panchyat Raj Institute at the local level. More recurrent surveys may result in more detection of cases in the community, enabling scope for early detection and help early identification of disabilities.
Dr. Anil Kumar, Deputy Director General, National leprosy Elimination Programme (NlEP) called for undertaking research in areas such as mode of transmission, understanding the reasons for reactivation of past infection and/or new infection, need for development of a field test for early diagnosis, reasons for delay in reporting, role of chemo-prophylaxis and immuneprophylaxis in cure of leprosy, mechanisms involved in nerve damage among others.