Making of an Army of Leprosy Warriors and Their Great New Weapon.
Hansen’s disease or leprosy is a curable infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae. India still accounts for more than half of all new cases of leprosy in the world. But for the past two years, the decreasing number of new adult and pediatric patients have given us fresh hope.
What is crucial in this fight to lower the disease burden is early diagnosis and timely treatment with multidrug therapy. In fact, India is running the most extensive leprosy eradication program in the world. But challenges remain because of the low rates of self-reporting, low levels of awareness, and lack of knowledge.
Now, this war against leprosy is getting an army of leprosy warriors which is getting strengthened by a new weapon of mass awareness and early detection. But first, let us understand what this army is fighting against!
Symptoms of Leprosy
The first step is to know the symptoms. Common symptoms of Leprosy (Source CDC) are –
- Single or multiple whitish/pale patches involving the skin, upper airways, and peripheral nerves.
- Single or multiple nodules involving the skin, upper airways, and peripheral nerves.
- Numbness of the affected regions of skin
- Eye problems (if left untreated, can even cause blindness)
- Ulcers on soles of feet
- Blocked feeling in the nose
- Enlarged nerves (commonly around elbows, knees, and ankle)
- Muscle weakness (can lead to paralysis if not treated)
- They spread, become larger, affecting nerves, wasting muscles, causing crippling disabilities if left untreated.
How does Leprosy spread?
It spreads through droplets, from the nose and mouth, during close contact with untreated patients. Mycobacterium leprae multiplies slowly. The incubation period is five years. That means after exposure, the disease may occur even five years later.
How to fight the stigma?
Awareness around leprosy is the biggest battle to win – widespread societal awareness and acknowledgment that leprosy is just like any other bacterial infection which is completely curable, along with eradication of superstitions around leprosy – will go a long way in fighting the stigma. Knowing the symptoms, self-reporting, getting diagnosed and an understanding that timely treatment will help in complete recovery will further help in eradicating the stigma around leprosy.
A ray of hope is there – The Government of India and the Sasakawa Health Foundation are doing great work in spreading awareness, education, supporting rehabilitation, and helping fight leprosy. SHF helps in awareness, giving access to education and financial support for self-reliance to leprosy-affected persons and their families.
The weapon – Flipchart and the help it can provide in mass awareness and early detection
Flipchart is a pictorial aid for the early detection of leprosy. It is in the form of a booklet which makes for easier understanding due to its pictorial and storytelling style. The Flipchart is being distributed to community health workers (ASHA workers),
Flipchart will help ASHA workers spread awareness about the early symptoms of leprosy. With Flipchart, these leprosy warriors have an effective tool in their fight against Hansen’s disease. This army of Flipchart-wielding ASHA workers has the potential to do what we need to win this war against leprosy – mass awareness and assisted early detection.
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The many ways a Flipchart for Leprosy will help the army of Leprosy Warriors – The ASHA workers
· Showing the pictures, ASHA worker can explain the early stages of the disease.
· How it appears at first to different people
· How to get help
· Where to get help
· She can talk about free medicine available at hospitals.
· What happens if you don’t get treated on time and in the right way.
· When it has the right visuals, then things get more comfortable to explain.
· There is less chance of misunderstanding or miscommunication.
· There is also less fear and much less discrimination.
· The ASHA workers will be more confident, reading the text while showing the pictures.
An example of How Flipchart wielding ASHA worker can help – The story of Renu’s brother
When Renu’s brother Raju first noticed a white patch on his forearm, he ignored it.
He also did not shout at Renu when she slapped hard on his forearm while playing.
This got Renu worried. She had seen Meena di, the ASHA worker in their village, showing a colorful book with pictures similar to the patch on Raju’s forearm. She discussed it with her mother and then decided to call Meena di home for advice.
Seeing the patch on Raju’s forearm, Meena di gently pinched it and asked a few questions. She then advised them to visit Dr. Natesh at the village PHC the next morning.
Dr. Natesh performed a few tests and confirmed that Raju had contracted leprosy, and he would need to take medicine, which will be given free of cost, for six months to get fully cured. Everyone was relieved and thanked Meena di profusely.
But Meena di was thinking about how Renu had seen her Flipchart and taken note of it. When she discussed this with her supervisor, s/he decided to give flipcharts to all ASHA workers working in the area.
Takeaways
The burden of leprosy can only be reduced by early diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Awareness at the community level, using the Flipchart will help in fighting Hansen’s disease. A picture speaks a thousand words. Please share this blog post and help. Help us in the fight against this disease.
Sharing is good Karma!
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This is a detailed post about Leprosy. Good to know about Flip chart and other details. Definitely informative!
Flipchart is great way to spread awareness about Leprosy. I feel pictorial messages do have a lasting effect.
Using Flipchart to make people understand about Leprosy is a good initiative and people will get to know many facts through this interesting chart. Good to know that Leprosy is now low in numbers and its awareness can even lower it.
This is really a very informative post. Is there any age limit when one can contract leprosy? Can you let me know?
No there is no age limit . Glad you found this helpful.
Thank you for putting out detailed post about leprosy. Agree that the awareness is less and the stigma keeps people feared .
Never knew this. I’m glad you brought this to limelight through your post. Kudos to the Asha workers who are doing a great job.
Thank you
Leprosy is a taboo disease and topic in our country. The Flipchart is a great and easy way to educate people about it .
Thank you
Leprosy though uncommon now but its still prevalent in the rural areas and low socio economic areas where nutrition is still a scarcity leading to poor immunity. Loved the storytelling narrative to help spread the message.
The awareness of Leprosy is very little and your posts bring it with the right information and resources. The symptoms are well-read by me in the post and shall pass on to family and friends so that they are also aware of the same.
I have heard about stigma attached with leprosy and that is what makes people shy and not talk about it openly and more so not get the proper treatment at the right time. Using flipchart is an excellent way for educating people and making them aware about this disease. Thanks for writing about it, Dr. Amrita.
Wow this was some information about leprosy that I never knew about. It was very enlighting to read about it and know more about it. It’s great that through flipchart Asha workers are able to spread the word and create awareness.
Thank you so much for sharing about this initiative buddy it is so heartwarming to witness this much needed ray of hope.
it was a really an opening blog. I had no idea about leprosy and how serious it can be. thank you for sharing I’ll definitely pass on this information ahead
This is really very informative post, I was not aware of the symptoms and this flipchart is really new to me. Thanks for always brining up such detailed information!!
I was not aware of Flipchart. In fact leprosy, even to these days is surrounded by lot of misinformation. An awareness is very neccessary.
Thank you for this informative post. I really enjoyed reading it. Have heard so much about leprosy but frankly knew nothing about it. Your article gave me some understanding of the disease.
Filpchart looking like a great tool to spread awareness about leprosy. it is really great that they has add visual adds to explain things better. thanks a lot dear sharing detail info about it.
It is a divine initiative. It is shocking fo know that even now, after all these vaccinations and advanced medicine, we still have leprosy cases. To identify and support them needs immense courage and a beautiful heart. Thanks for sharing about them.
Flipchart seems to be a great tool in raising awareness as it will be easier for people to understand in small towns and villages. Asha workers are doing a great job I must say.
Flipchart looks like a simple tool that can help spread awareness at the grassroot level. Many times graphic explanations are easy to remember and this is a great initiative.