6) National Leprosy Elimination programme (NLEP) :-

Leprosy Elimination Strategy:

  • Early Case detection & providing high quality MDT (Multi Drug Therapy) drugs free of cost to all patients.
  • Reducing disease burden prevalence of a very low level will lead in course of time to reduction in transmission of infection & subsequently radiation in incidence of leprosy
  • Enabling all health facilities to diagnose & treat leprosy & its complications which will promote early case detection, reduce disabilities case holding & cure
  • Reducing stigma of leprosy in community through IEC & advocacy.

The target of Leprosy elimination (i.e. Reduction of prevalence to less than 1 per 10,000 population) is already achieved by Latur district by June 2005

By March 2008 prevalence of leprosy in Latur district in 0.33 cases per 10,000 population.

Programme Implementation

  • Activities to improve new case Detection: - Leprosy survey for new care detection by paramedical staff in now stopped. Patients with skin lesions are expected to report voluntarily to Health Facility /Health Staff now a day Interpersonal communication (IPC) is the strategy of IEC for leprosy programme. Aim of IEC activities is to dispel social stigma & discrimination associated with leprosy & seeking community participation in facilitating early voluntary & self reporting.
  • Identification of suspected Leprosy case is done by health workers during their home visits or in OPD.
  • Confirmation of diagnosis is done by MO PHC- as per WHO guidelines.  It is not necessary to carry out bacteriological examination of suspected Leprosy patients.  It is confirmed in diagnosis of Leprosy routinely.  Diagnosis is mainly based on presence of clinical cardinal signs.  It includes case history skin examination, Examination of peripheral nerves, Voluntary muscle testing (VMT).
  • Classification of Leprosy Patients:- There are 2 types of leprosy cases depending on no. of patches & never involvement
  • Paucibacillary (PB) : 1-5 skin patches with definite sensory deficit  and / or one definite thickened or tender peripheral nerves.
  • Multibacillary (MB): 6 & above skin patches with definite sensory deficit and / or more than one definite thickened & tender peripheral nerves.

Treatment of Leprosy patients: After diagnosis of a case as MB or PB ,a separate treatment card is prepared for each & every patient.

Treatment is in the form of Multi Drug Therapy (MDT) which is a combination on of 2/3 drugs MDT is highly effective Relapse rates are very low & there is no resistance reported to MDT.  Monthly calendar packs are available (Red color for MB cases & Green color of PB cases) which make it convenient for dispensing & consumption by patient.

Treatment of MB case is of 1year duration while that of PB case is of 6 Months 18 doses at the start of month of treatment are supervised & while other doses during months are self-ad ministered.

Prevention of Deformity: Social stigma & discrimination attached to leprosy in due mainly to development of deformities & therefore prevention of occurrence of deformity & prevention of worsening of existing deformities is important aspect of Leprosy treatment & rehabilitation Damage to peripheral nerves cause loss of motor sensory & autonomic nerve factions of the affected are leading in turn to deformity

Educating leprosy patients about self care is an integral part of IEC in leprosy programme which if done properly goes a long way in preventing deformity & disability.

Rehabilitations :Rehabilitation is classified as physical economical & psychological.

  • Physical- Patients needing Reconstructive surgery are operated at District Hospital on camp basis .Leprosy Patients as per need are provided MCR chappals, goggles, Splints & educated about physic by leprosy technicians
  • Economical- Financial support is provided to leprosy patients under Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojana & houses under Indira Awas Yojana.
  • Psychological / Social- Counseling to leprosy patients.  The Indicators which are monitored at district level are 1) prevalence rate per 10,000 population 2) new case detection rate 3) Percentage of deformity case among new case detection 4) Female case percentage among new case detection 5) Percentage of children among new cases 6) Percentage of SC/ST category cases among new cases.