Two skin camps held
A total of six people were diagnosed with leprosy in Chuadanga Sadar Upazila and Damurhuda Upazila in two separate skin camps on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Among the six new patients, three are male, a 14-year old male child and two females were confirmed as affected by leprosy but soon after that confirmation, all of them were registered with respective Upazila Health Complex Hospitals.
Besides new case detection, more than 400 patients with various skin diseases were provided free medication at Karpasdanga union parishad under Damurhuda upazila and Begumpur Union in Chuadanga Sadar upazila.
The skin camps were arranged and supported by Impact Foundation and The Leprosy Mission International-Bangladesh (TLMI-B) respectively. TLMI-B has been working with the National Leprosy Programme (NLP) aiming to eliminate leprosy from Bangladesh by 2030.
The organization has also been working with eight partners and a couple of university professors aiming towards global zero leprosy goal. The events were arranged aiming to detect leprosy patients, registration with government hospitals, early medication, and overall building awareness about leprosy.
Two leprosy patients were identified and both of them was registered with Damurhuda Upazila Health Complex while four leprosy patients were detected in Chuadanga Sadar Upazila’s Begumpur union.
Damurhuda Upazila Health & Family Planning Officer (UH&FPO) Dr Abu Hena Md Jamal, Daburhuda TB & Leprosy Control Assistant (TLCA) Md Hamim Hasan Joarder, Chuadanga Upazila Health Complex’s Medical Officer (MO) Md Sovon, TLCA Md Nasir Uddin among others were present at the skin camps.
Meanwhile, Impact Foundation’s medical officer Dr Shovon, its coordination manager Md Rafiqul Islam, TLMI-B senior project officer Md Khalequzzaman and project officer Roton Malo were also present during the camps in two upazilas.
According to the National Leprosy Programme, 3,976 leprosy cases were detected in 2015, a number of 3,001 cases in 2016 while 3,754 and 3,729 leprosy cases were diagnosed in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The number of new leprosy case detection was 3,638 in 2019.
Programme Support Coordinator of TLMI-B, Mr Jiptha Boiragee, said awareness has no alternative to elimination of leprosy from the country by 2030.
He also said that we’ve been trying to build awareness among members of the family of leprosy-affected people for early detection and medication as a recent study shows a significant number of new leprosy cases comes from the family of a previously leprosy-affected person.
