Leprosy far from eradication in Nagpur dist

Nagpur: WHO has set a target of eradication (zero cases) of leprosy among children by 2020. For adults, this target is one case per 10,000 population. But the health department seems to be far from both these targets in the district.

This year there are reports of 30 children (17 till August and 13 there after) suffering from leprosy in Nagpur district alone. There are 453 old cases under treatment, 694 cases new cases were detected until August this year and 224 new cases were found through door-to-door campaign in last one month. This accounts for about two cases per 10,000 population. Percentage of child cases is 7.20 of all new cases detected.

Assistant director of Leprosy Dr Madhyama Chahande told TOI, "Leprosy was close to being eradicated in 2005 but there has since been a resurgence."

Dr Sanjay Manekar, senior medical officer said that during the campaign, total 28,91,542 people were screened for the disease which included 21,92,779 people from rural areas and 6,98,763 persons from urban areas. Of these, 7676 cases were registered as suspected for the disease.