Delhi government to launch leprosy detection campaign

For early detection and prevention of leprosy, the Delhi government will launch a fortnight-long leprosy case detection campaign (LCDC) on Saturday in the national capital, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said.

The campaign, which will go on till November 23, will be conducted in eight districts of Delhi - Shahdara, North Delhi, North West Delhi, West Delhi, South West Delhi, South Delhi, Central Delhi and New Delhi.

"The fortnight-long activity will see field teams comprising ASHA workers and volunteers conducting door-to-door visits for screening and detecting hidden leprosy cases under the supervision of experts," Jain told reporters here.

A flagship campaign of the National Leprosy Eradication Programme, the LCDC will involve forming various committees to plan and implement the LCDC, Jain's office said in a statement.

Under the campaign, it said, supervision of house-to-house search activities is done through identified field supervisors. Central monitors nominated by the Central Leprosy Division will directly monitor the activities, and systematic collection and compilation of reports will be done through the formats designed for this purpose which are filled by search teams and supervisors.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said that currently Delhi has one case of leprosy among 10,000 people, which makes a total of 2,000 leprosy patients.

"Our focus will mainly be on slum areas and the homeless people living in areas like Yamuna Bazar Mandir and Hanuman Mandir," he said.

We target to achieve less than one case of disability per million population by 2020, he added.

Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The disease mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract and the eyes.

It is completely curable and is known to occur at all ages ranging from early infancy to very old age.

Leprosy is a communicable disease whose treatment takes at least a year.

--IANS

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