Drastic reduction in incidences of leprosy could well lead to complete elimination through accelerated surveillance and treatment, Health department staff from the Western districts were told at an orientation programme here on Thursday to update approach.
The knowledge-updation, conducted under National Leropray Eradicaton Program, had 140 participants comprising non-medical supervisors and health inspectors from eight districts in the Western Tamil Nadu.
They were oriented on the methodology towards complete elimination by a team of trainers led by Additional Director - Medical Services (Leprosy) Indumathy.
The training was formally inaugurated by Joint Director of Medical Services, Erode, Kanagachalam in the presence of the Deputy Directors of Medical Services - Leprosy of all eight districts.
Multi-Drug-Therapy has brought down the extent of incidence from 118 cases per 10,000 population before 1986 to less than 0.58 per cent at present.
The intervention approach for addressing the bacterial disease with a lengthy gestation period warrants substantial door-to-door surveys by Village Heath Nurses, the participants were told.
Of late, the absence of deformity indicates the positive impact of the medical intervention strategy.
The idea beyond such periodic orientation was to fine-tune the approach further towards complete elimination through early-stage detection of patches on skins and damage to nervous system, Health Educator M. Baskar said.
