Zero leprosy transmission in state likely by 2027: Dr Bocha
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, November 25 2024: State Leprosy officer senior dermatologist Dr Salam Bocha Singh has informed that most districts of the state would be in zero leprosy transmission stage by 2027 .

For this, there is need for a strong political commitment and close monitoring of the health sector, he added.

Speaking to The People's Chronicle with regard to the status of leprosy cases in Manipur, Dr Bocha informed that leprosy cases in the state dropped significantly though 25 cases were confirmed in between years 2023 to 2024.Informing that the National Strategic Plan (NSP) & Roadmap for Leprosy 2023-27 was launched last year with the aim to make India leprosy-free by 2027, while the Global Leprosy Strategy's target is to ensure zero leprosy, zero transmission and zero stigma by 2030, for India, the.

target was advanced by three years, he conveyed.

Regarding the instances of leprosy cases in the state, Dr Bocha said that there no major public health issue.

However, a character of leprosy is once the bacteria infects a body, it may take a long time to surface as the incubation period varies from 10 to 20 years.

Fortunately, most of the districts are at stage of achieving zero transmission by 2027, for which a strong political commitment and close monitoring of the health sector is required.

He continued that diagnosis of leprosy in children below 15 years of age is of major concern, as transmission in children indicates the prevalence of cases among the adults, and possible transmission amongst family.

The global Leprosy Strategy is to interrupt the transmission.

A case in children was detected both last year and this year.

Total elimination would mean zero detection of cases amongst children for a period of five years, which would mean the transmission has been interrupted.

Non-detection for three more years both in children and adults would indicate that the area is now leprosy free.

In Manipur's context, there is no leprosy free district for now, although some districts are nearing this target.

However, the present conflict has been a huge disadvantage to achieving this target, he conveyed.

He continued that comparing the statistic with the entire country, Manipur is faring well.

Nonetheless, there is a need for concerted efforts to focus on this social concern to encourage patients to seek treatment and for the society not to discriminate.

Dr Bocha then said that while leprosy was at elimination level in December, 2005, Manipur achieved the same in 2001.While detecting one case out of10,000 samples was achieved two decades ago, but it is yet to attain the much-aspired 100 per cent elimination level, mainly due to the long incubation periods.

Conceding that diagnosing children is difficult, he cautioned that the transmission has not been fully checked as around 11 cases were detected within the last 20 years after 2001.The sample size also included non-locals, who are considered as new cases if they have been around for six months.

While it can be said that the state is almost at zero level, there might be undetected cases in bordering areas, he added.

Mentioning the multi-drug therapy which came into being under the WHO in 1983, Dr Bocha said that medicines are provided free of cost under the same.

Even now, all leprosy related treatments are 100 per cent free.

The state attaining the elimination level was all due to WHO's MDT, he stated, while remarking that Manipur is public health conscious.

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