Blantyre district has recorded 23 cases of Leprosy coming from different areas of the district over the past year.
Speaking to Malawi24, Blantyre Dermatovenerology officer Stella Katuma said as a district they have recorded 23 cases and what they are doing now is actually to intensify on active surveillance of the disease.
She added that most of their health workers are trained to ensure that they are able to detect if someone has signs and symptoms of Leprosy.
“Currently, not many cases have been identified in the district but we are intesifying on surveillance both at community as well at health facility level to ensure that our health workers should have skills to actually diagnose leprosy because as you know it’s an old disease.
“It almost phased out, probably people might actually have forgotten about leprosy so we need to ensure that all our health workers have got the capacity to be able to detect leprosy cases and manage them,” said Katuma.
In terms of treatment, Katuma said they have the medical supplies that are needed to actually manage leprosy cases as basically they are more less like the TB medicines that they use.
Katuma also noted that as a district they are doing awareness campaigns in communities around Blantyre to make sure that people are aware of the disease and if they notice anyone showing signs and symptoms of leprosy they should take him/her to the nearest hospital for medication.
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