City Beautiful declared leprosy free
POSTED May 19, 2009 - 18:11 | POSTED BY Bimal Preet Kaur
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on May 19, 2009 - 18:17
The Union Health Ministry has set a benchmarking of less than 1 per 10,000 of the population as the qualification for the elimination stage.
As per the reports, the PR came down from 1.23 percent in 2007-2008 in the city to 0.28 percent per 10,000 of the population in 2008-2009. It is much lower than the benchmark, said the Secretary (Health) Ram Niwas. In 2006-2007, 171 new leprosy cases were detected in the city.
Dr. SD Mehta, state leprosy officer, revealed that the annual new case detection rate (ANCDR) in the city came down from 16.70 per lakh in 2007-2008 to 3.25 per lakh in 2008-2009.
Chandigarh is now part of 28 states and UTs that have been declared leprosy-free. The leprosy awareness campaign was conducted in 487 districts out of 611, which were identified as the high priority zones.
Leprosy, also called the Hansen`s disease, is an infectious disease that is caused by the organism Mycobacterium leprae. Lack of treatment can lead to permanent damage to the eyes, limbs, nerves and skin. The city has three centers for leprosy treatment.
Chandigarh has also been declared the “tuberculosis free” city in the recent past. In 2007, it was certified to be the first city in India to be “smoke-free”.
