"Elimination” of leprosy in Brazil

Leprosy Mailing List, April 14, 2009

 

Ref.:    "Elimination” of leprosy in Brazil

From:  Lombardi C., Sao Paulo, Brazil

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Dear Dr. Noto,

 

In connection with Dr. Talhari´s message (LML April 11th, 2009).  The goal of elimination of leprosy as a public health problem as proposed by WHO is currently more than ever appropriate to Brazil, a huge and complex country, where almost 40,000 new leprosy cases are detected each year.  Such a lot of patients need not only to be early detected but also to be treated and cured by complete and regular MDT regimens.

 

The surveillance of this process has to be done through the prevalence rates plus treatment completion rates, as WHO proposed.  

 

In Brazil, leprosy elimination remains to be reached not only at the national level, but also at the first sub-national level (27 states) and furtherly at the second sub-national one (more than 5,000 municipalities).  As a matter of public health, what is yet to be eliminated is leprosy itself, not the elimination goal.

 

Dr. Clovis Lombardi

PhD in Public Health - Epidemiology of Leprosy

Public Health School - University of São Paulo

Brazil