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Published Date: 2012-02-15 02:34:19
Subject: PRO/EDR> Leprosy - WHO Western Pacific Region
Archive Number: 20120215.1042098

LEPROSY - WHO WESTERN PACIFIC REGION
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Date: Mon 13 Feb 2012
Source: Topnews [edited]
http://topnews.us/content/246246-5000-leprosy-cases-identified-western-pacific


As per recent reports, it has been revealed that 500[0] new leprosy cases have been detected in the Western Pacific [Region], the place where the disease was said to be eradicated since 1991. This news has raised concerns within the World Health Organization (WHO), which has asked the government[s] to take stern action.

WHO said that they [presumably the governments. - Mod.SH] have done not much to eradicate the disease completely, [the consequences] of which [are] in front of them. They have called for an investigation, which aims to know the condition of disease across different countries as well.

WHO regional director Shin Young-soo said that they have come to know that the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Kiribati are among 37 countries that have not taken precautionary steps to lower the leprosy cases.

The Philippines is one country that has made every possible effort to reduce leprosy cases and has achieved success as well, said WHO. Shin said that the country has become an example for others.

Philippine health secretary Enrique Ona said that they are quite happy to hear that WHO has appreciated them and their efforts. However, they remain concerned about increasing leprosy cases in Western Pacific [Region] and in parts of the world. "This thing should be in the radar of every public health as well as our general practitioners," he said.

WHO has called for a united effort and has been planning to organize a 3-day meeting with all the countries that are at high risk to have leprosy. A leprosy control program is also said to be in the plan list of WHO.

Shin told that they have sent national leprosy program managers to Western Pacific [Region] and they hope to bring the situation under control.

[byline: Satish Karat]

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[The Western Pacific Region, one of the 6 regions of WHO, is home to about 1.6 billion people, nearly one-third of the world's population. This region includes 37 countries and areas, from China and Mongolia in the north and west, to New Zealand and Australia in the south, to Japan and Korea in the north east, and to French Polynesia in the south east (http://www.wpro.who.int/countries/list.htm). Also included are Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore; and Viet Nam, plus multiple smaller Pacific island countries (http://www.wpro.who.int/countries/list.htm).

The development of multidrug therapy for the treatment of leprosy in the early 1980s, initially implemented in the Western Pacific Region in 1985, allows possible control of the disease. Over the next 2 decades, new leprosy cases in the Western Pacific Region declined nearly 90 per cent (http://www.wpro.who.int/). By reducing the prevalence to below one case per 10 000 population at the national level, 35 of the 37 countries and areas in the Western Pacific Region had "eliminated" leprosy as a public health problem by the end of 2000 (http://www.wpro.who.int/media_centre/fact_sheets/fs_20070129.htm). These 35 countries and areas cover 99.9 per cent of the total population of the Western Pacific Region. 

However, there are still more than 5000 new cases of leprosy reported in the Western Pacific Region each year (http://www.wpro.who.int/media_centre/press_releases/pr_20120213.htm). Most of these new cases -- about 2000 each year -- occur in the Philippines, although this country meets the WHO definition of "elimination" as a public health problem (one case per 10 000 population). Three Western Pacific Region countries -- the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands -- fail to meet this target (http://www.wpro.who.int/). High rates of new case detection per 100 000 were reported in 2005 from Kiribati (35 per 100 000), the Marshall Islands (76), and Micronesia (202) with 25 to 35 per cent of new cases being reported in children younger than 15 years of age (http://www.wpro.who.int/NR/rdonlyres/E89426EB-2D3D-4347-8B71-DD5B9FBA5246/0/lep_report_2005.pdf). 

A map of Oceania, on which the Philippines, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands can be found, can be accessed at http://www.escapeartist.com/efam18/Map_Of_Oceania.html. The HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of Oceania can be accessed at http://healthmap.org/r/1n1p. - Mod.ML]

See Also

Leprosy - India (02): background 20120127.1024258
Leprosy - India, Sri Lanka: persistence 20120126.1022946
2011
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Leprosy, human, armadillo - USA: transmission 20110430.1352
Leprosy - Ghana: (TV) cases increase 20110308.0755
2008
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Leprosy, new species - USA, Mexico, Singapore 20081126.3723
2007
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Leprosy - Indonesia (02) 20071104.3584
Leprosy - Indonesia 20071028.3498
Leprosy - Portugal 20070727.2426
Leprosy - Democratic Republic of the Congo (Katanga) (02) 20070727.2422
Leprosy - Democratic Republic of the Congo (Katanga) 20070726.2402]
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