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| Sunday, 24 November 2002 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Leprosy still prevalent in 5 districts by SHANIKA SRIYANANDA LIYANAGE Although Sri Lanka achieved leprosy elimination goals in 1995, the disease which was once known as the 'Curse of God' is still prevalent in five districts in the country, Dr. Sunil Settinayake, Director Anti Leprosy Campaign and the Leprosy Elimination Project of the Ministry of Health, said. He said that leprosy patients were not now banished to asylums, but some were still hiding symptoms of the disease due to fear of ostracism. This, he said, would prevent them reaching health institutions for treatment. "Compared to other countries in the South East Asian region, the majority of our patients do not develop disfigurement and deformities mainly due to Multi Drug Therapy introduced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1982", Dr. Settinayake said at a recent press conference held in connection with the Inter-country Meeting of National Programme Managers for Leprosy Elimination. According to him, 1989 leprosy patients were registered for treatment and last year 2,300 patients received treatment. "Over 1,015 patients have received treatment in the past six months and 60 per cent of them are now fully cured", he said. Dr. Settinayake said that the social stigma attached to leprosy was eliminated to a great extent through the mass public awareness campaign commenced in 1990 and funded by the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development, Switzerland. " Prior to the campaign, only nine self-reported cases were reported but later this rose to 50 per cent. As a result of this, the national prevalence rate dropped below 1 per 10,000 persons", he said. Of the five districts where most leprosy patients are found, the majority of them are reported from Colombo and Batticaloa. |
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