Evaluation of the effect of Block Level Awareness Campaign on performance indicators of National Leprosy Elimination Program in Vadodara district, Gujarat, India.
Loading...
Date
2015-05
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Background: Leprosy is probably the oldest disease affl icting mankind and a public health
problem for centuries. Many cases are hidden or undiagnosed, especially due to social stigma,
and neglect of painless patches. Between years 2001 and 2005, during which time active
surveillance for detection of leprosy was in practice, a steep fall in the prevalence rate (PR)
of leprosy was observed. However, during later years, leprosy program discontinued active
surveillance for detection of leprosy cases. Presently block level awareness campaign (BLAC)
is a special measure undertaken in a campaign mode during September–November in priority
areas, (PR > 1/10000 population), during which information, education and communication (IEC)
activities and active surveillance of leprosy cases is done. Aims: To evaluate the effect of
Block Level Awareness Campaign on performance indicators of national leprosy elimination
program (NLEP) in Vadodara district. Methods: The campaign was carried out for 6 days
in 12 talukas of Vadodara district by the district leprosy offi ce, Vadodara. Trained teams of
health workers carried out information, education and communication (IEC) activity and active
surveillance by undertaking house to house survey in each primary health centre (PHC) area.
Suspected cases were identifi ed by the team and confi rmed clinically by medical offi cers in the
primary health centre of the corresponding areas. A district nucleus team (DNT) validated these
confi rmed cases. These data were compared with the district’s national leprosy eradication
programme (NLEP) data for the same year, 2012 and the previous year, 2011. Results: A total
of 1,574,586 persons, comprising 76%of the population surveyed, were screened for leprosy,
which resulted in detection of 358 clinically confi rmed new cases of leprosy, out of which
225 (62.8%) were paucibacillary (PB) and 133 (37.2%) were multibacillary (MB) leprosy. Of
these cases, 14 (4%) had deformities, and 37 (10.3%) were children. Limitations: Only 76%
of the population could be covered. Histopathological confi rmation of the diagnosis was not
undertaken. Because of the large number of health workers invovled, variations in their skills
may have infl uenced the diagnosis of suspected cases. Conclusions: Active surveillance
linked to focused block level campaigns can be useful tools to detect new hidden leprosy cases.
Description
Keywords
Active surveillance, block level awareness campaign, evaluation, national leprosy, elimination program, prevalence
Citation
Shukla Lipy K, Patel Rashendu N, Patel Sangita V, Baxi Rajendra K. Evaluation of the effect of Block Level Awareness Campaign on performance indicators of NationalLeprosy Elimination Program in Vadodara district, Gujarat, India. Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology. 2015 May-Jun; 81(3): 257-262.