PREVALENCE OF LEPROSY IN NIGERIA
Feb 5th, 2008 by admin
Despite the decline in global leprosy accurence, Nigeria is still being threatened by the disease as some states of the federation are lagging behind in the control and elimination of the scourge.
National Coordinator of Leprosy control Programme Dr. Ben Nwobi, disclosed this while briefing journalists in Minna, Niger State on activities to mark this year’s World Leprosy Day, which has as its theme, Engaging the communities in Re-integration and rehabilitation of people affected by Leprosy.
Rrpresented by Dr. Sunday Udoh, Programme and Technical Adviser on Leprosy to the Leprosy Mission Nigeria (TLMN) , Nwobi lamented that despite the attainment of the World Health Organisation (WHO) prevalent rate as a country since 1998 and an improvement in the treatment of the disease, many states were still far above the one case per 10,000 population.
While control of the disease as a nation was impressive, failure to expedite action on reducing the prevalence would portend danger for the country.
Even in 2013 new cases of both PB and MB leprosy are not infrequent in Anambra state due to the insincerity of those who are supposed to distribute the drugs to the patients. In fact these blister packs are sold to them at an exorbitant price!