TheAndhra Pradeshhealth department is planning to launch a month-long leprosy case detection campaign from June 26. About 5 crore people will be screened for the infectious disease during this campaign. Even though the chronic, progressive bacterial infection can be cured, late detection can cause permanent deformities and disabilities. This would often lead to discrimination against the affected persons in the Society.
Andhra Pradesh reports about 3,000 to 5,000 new leprosy cases every year. However, the Covid-19 pandemic had its impact on leprosy screening as the new cases were limited to 1,811 in 2020-21 and 1,888 in 2021-22. About 3,160 new cases surfaced in 2022-23. The Health department wants to detect about 50% of the years total new caseload in this month-long screening alone.
The Union Government launched a national strategic plan (NSP) and roadmap for leprosy (2023-27) in January 2023 to achieve zero transmission of leprosy by 2027. The NSP and roadmap contains implementation strategies, year-wise targets, public health approaches and overall technical guidance for the programme.
These will focus on awareness for zero stigma and discrimination, promotion of early case detection, prevention of disease transmission by prophylaxis (leprosy post exposure prophylaxis), etc.