Guide to Eliminate Leprosy as a Public-Health Problem

The Final Push to Eliminate Leprosy

Leprosy will be eliminated when we detect all patients and cure them by using multidrug therapy (MDT).

Elimination means bringing the disease burden down to a very low level. This will lead to a reduction in the source of infection, so that leprosy is likely to disappear naturally as it already has in many parts of the world. WHO has defined “elimination” as a prevalence rate of less than 1 case per 10,000 inhabitants.

This final push to eliminate leprosy involves:

• Making leprosy diagnosis and treatment available, free of charge, at all health centres, particularly in endemic areas.
• Enabling every health worker to diagnose and treat leprosy.
• Dispelling the fear of leprosy, improving awareness of its early signs, and motivating people to seek treatment.
• Ensuring that all leprosy patients are cured.

This guide should help you to:

• Diagnose leprosy cases based on clinical signs.
• Cure all leprosy patients with a complete course of MDT.
• Manage complications and prevent disabilities.
• Set up good records to keep track of patients and the local leprosy situation.
• Give correct information leprosy to the community.