Disease Prevention and Control / Communicable Diseases / Leprosy
Ministry of Health of Brazil Launches Instrument to Monitor Leprosy in Each State | ||
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Links to the Brazilian website (in Portuguese): Source and more information: 21/10/2004: Saúde lança instrumento para monitorar a hanseníase nos estados (21 October 2004: Health Launches Instrument to Monitor Leprosy in the States), at the website of the Ministry of Health of Brazil, Secretary of Health Surveillance (Ministério da Saúde do Brasil, Secretaria da Vigiláncia em Saúde/SVS). |
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The 21st of October, 2004, was a very special day: the Brazilian government launched its "Charters of Elimination," a powerful instrument for monitoring leprosy elimination. The Minister of Health delivered the letter to each of the 27 states: "Upon launching the Charters of Elimination of Hansen's Disease (leprosy) this Thursday in Brasilia, alongside Health Minister Humberto Costa, Secretary of Health Surveillance Jarbas Barbosa stated that the Ministry's goal for December 2005 is to reduce the prevalence rate of the disease from 4.5 cases per every 10,000 thousand patients to less than one. 'We already have the tools in our hands: the Family Health Program, with more than 20,000 thousand workers, and all the basic health units throughout the country", he said. "We three managers of the basic health services (SUS)—the Ministry of Health, the state Departments of Health, and the City Departments of Health—have a firm policy to work together in such a way that these instruments will provide effective action to resolve the problem of leprosy once and for all.' The Charters of Elimination of Hansen's Disease delivered to the state representatives contain summarized information on the decentralization of leprosy diagnosis and treatment, the latest epidemiological profile (with data from 2003), and a map with the location of microregions in the states with their respective prevalence coefficients, i.e. number of cases per 10,000 inhabitants. By the end of 2005, the managers will send out three more quarterly editions of the Charters, so as to maintain monitoring tempo and better orient the necessary strategic actions towards the eventual success of the National Plan to Eliminate Hansen's Disease. 'The Ministry of Health carried out an advertising campaign to call attention to the disease, the first one in more than ten years. That shows that we are involved in an ongoing process of providing information to health professionals', said Jarbas Barbosa. In his opinion, there is yet another problem for which to the present health infrastructure health is under-utilized for Hansen's disease: only one third of the family health teams are providing diagnostic and treatment services to leprosy patients. 'For this reason, if we succeed in rapidly expanding our existing capacity, we will also succeed in providing diagnosis and treatment to the people who need it. This will result in quicker diagnosis and reduced transmission within both families and communities by providing a faster cure for these cases.' Stigma: Another obstacle identified by SVS Secretary Jarbas Barbosa is that Hanseniasis is still a stigmatizing disease, going back to biblical times when the disease was best known as leprosy. Since that time, it has been somewhat associated with the idea of sin, causing victims were blamed, etc. 'One of the objectives of the Ministry of Health's campaign is to attack that stigma and to explain that Hansen's disease is a curable disease—rapidly curable,' Barbosa stressed. 'In six or 12 months, the person is already completely cured. As soon as treatment starts, transmission stops. In other words, there is no reason for any stigma. However, anyone who finds spots on their skin with loss of sensation could have Hansen's Disease. It is important that people seek out the health system to obtain a diagnosis, get treated—free of charge—and carry through. 'This way, the person can get better and stay better, without no additional risk for him or her or for the people they live with', concluded the Secretary."
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