From a random sample of 14 Government Leprosy Control Units in Tamil Nadu, information on the profile of the newly-diagnosed leprosy patients and some important aspects of the control programme in 1978-81 was collected when monotherapy with dapsone was the practice. Among the new patients, 55 per cent were males, 24 per cent were children, 6 per cent had lepromatous leprosy and 9 per cent had a deformity. About 65 per cent were detected by active case-finding methods and 25 per cent were voluntary referrals. Of the total diagnosed patients, only 68 per cent started treatment; further, of these, about 40 per cent collected drugs for at least 6 months in the first year of treatment. The average attendance at the clinic was 34 per cent of the due attendance. Coverage in the annual examination of family contacts was 57 per cent. During the 4 yr period, about 70 per cent of the villages had population surveys with a coverage of 75 per cent or more. The introduction of multi-drug therapy has provided a new impetus to the programme and therefore a similar study is called for to provide valuable information about the extent of improvement in completion rates and overall impact.
PIP: Researchers used 1978-1981 data from a random sample of 100 rural subcenters of 14 government leprosy control unites (LCUs) in Tamil Nadu, India to learn the status of indices of the National Leprosy Control Programme. The lepromatous rate stood at 6% (4-10% range) with males having a much higher percentage (8.6% vs. 3.9%) and children having a much lower percentage (.6% vs. 8.3%). It was highest for those who voluntarily reported their condition (10.4%) and lowest for those detected during a routine contact examination (2.5%). Active case finding techniques detected most new cases [65%; population survey (59%) and routine contact examination (6%)] followed by voluntary referrals (25%; 8-44% range) and miscellaneous sources. Only 68% (38-82%) of newly diagnosed cases started treatment in the same calendar year or the next. Indeed 46% of those detected by population survey and 37% of contact examination did not even register. Therefore the active case finding program does not bring full benefits to patients. It should undertake intense efforts to motivate all diagnosed patients to take treatment. Moreover, as many as 60% of patients did not collect the drugs needed for the multidrug therapy for =or + 6 months. Some of these did not even do so in the 1st year of treatment. As time passed, the levels of irregularity rose (65% in 2nd year and 71% in 3rd year). Perhaps LCU staff should use a group approach to motivate patients to collect the needed drugs rather than an individualizes approach. In addition, 18-89% of patients at time of registration had a bacteriological examination in 12 LCUs. The median stood at 69%. The percentage of patients who have a bacteriological examination must improve since the multidrug therapy regimen is dependent on the type of leprosy the patient has (multi or pauci bacillary leprosy).