By Ajuma Edwina Ogiri
Abuja
The National Director, The Leprosy Mission – Nigeria (TLM), Dr Sunday Udo, said leprosy remained a disease of public health importance in Nigeria.
Udo who made this known at a one-day sensitisation workshop on “The Rights of Persons Affected by Leprosy’’ in Abuja recently, said despite achieving the elimination target of one case per population of 10,000 in year 2000 through implementation of WHO recommendation, leprosy still remains a disease of public health importance in Nigeria.
He said: “With an annual case detection of 4,000 people; a Grade 2 disability rate of 12 per cent and nearly 10 per cent child ratio among new cases, it is necessary to maintain leprosy control measures.
“These will further reduce the burden of leprosy and ensure quality care to people affected by the disease.’’
The national director stressed the need to reorganise service to take into account the new setting of low-endemic-level and the uneven distribution of leprosy in Nigeria.
He said there was need for more affirmative action to achieve the desired result, recalling that during pre-independence period, the average leprosy prevalence in Nigeria was 20 per cent.
He further noted that each of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT had a state TB and Leprosy Control programme manager, who is the head of the team and responsible for programme management and technical guidance to local government areas.
Mr Terver Anyor, also from TLM, said leprosy distribution in Nigeria had notification rates higher in the North than in the South and higher in the East than in the West.
He said five states, namely Kebbi, Zamfara, Kano, Jigawa and Benue notified more than 200 new cases each in 2012.
He noted that the major challenges include inadequate government financial commitment to leprosy and gradual loss of leprosy expertise in the country, adding that other challenges were the physical and social rehabilitation of people with leprosy-related disabilities and the issue of stigma and discrimination.
