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'Final push' to leprosy eradication gets under way

By Our Staff Reporter

Chennai Nov. 20. The fourth Modified Leprosy Eradication Campaign, with a strong State-NGO partnership, was formally kicked off in the city at the Damien Foundation India Trust today by the Health Minister, S.Semmalai.

Launching the State-level campaign, the Minister said the programme aimed at providing the `final push' towards eliminating leprosy and bringing down the incidence to one case per 10,000 inhabitants as on March 31, 2004.

For the first time, the State Government issued an order on November 8 this year formulating a strategy to ensure sustainable service in all six municipal corporations and 102 municipalities. Nodal NGOs had been identified for taking up leprosy services in the urban areas, Mr.Semmalai said. From a prevalence rate of 118 per 10,000 population in 1983, the leprosy prevention rate came down to 2.3 per 10,000 population, the Minister added.

He later released propaganda material — flash cards and posters — to be distributed throughout the State.

Tamil Nadu was the first state to achieve integration of the leprosy eradication project with the primary health programme, the Health Secretary, Girija Vaidyanathan, said. Though there was trepidation about merging the two, the programme worked very well and was primarily responsible for reducing the incidence of leprosy, she added.

This part of the campaign, unlike its earlier phases, lays emphasis on passive surveillance, relying on Voluntary Reporting Centres to do the work, the Director of Public Health, P.Krishnamurthy, said.

Every paramedic on the field had been trained at detecting `patches' and directing people for treatment. ICDS anganwadi workers were roped in, apart from nurses and health workers.

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