By Muniratu Akweley Issah
Accra, Feb. 01, GNA – Dr Benedict Okoe Quao, Programme Manager, National Leprosy Control Programme, Ghana Health Service (GHS), emphasized the importance of leprosy vaccine in achieving zero infections in the country.
He noted that acquiring a vaccine for the disease may be a game changer, noting that despite countless efforts to obtain vaccinations for other diseases, little had been done to procure vaccines for Leprosy.
“We are still about ten years away from a vaccine and if we can get this vaccine, it may be the next game changer,” he said.
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by a bacteria known as Mycobacterium leprae, which is transmitted through droplets from the nose and mouth during close and frequent contact with untreated cases.
The disease, which is one of the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) starts on the skin, mostly affecting the peripheral nerves, and when left untreated may cause progressive and permanent disabilities.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Dr. Quao noted that the programme’s goal was to eradicate leprosy, which would require enormous effort and collaboration from the government, civil society, and the general people.
In 2000, Ghana recorded 1,569 cases of leprosy; by 2022, the number had reduced to 277, with eight of those being children under the age of 15.
Dr Quao noted that attaining zero-infection meant having zero child cases, which would need resources for contact tracing in communities.
Ghana was one of the few countries that began practicing leprosy chemotherapy treatment in 2018. It is a drug that renders persons who have encountered lepers non-infectious, to drastically prevent future leprosy infections.
Dr. Quao raised concern that the new intervention had only been implemented in six of the sixteen regions when it should have been implemented in all of them.
“We need to start tracing the cases which are in the communities, moving from house to house, where contacts that satisfy the criteria will be given the preventive drugs and we need the government to commit resources to help in rolling out the interventions,” he stressed.
Dr Quao noted that, despite a decline, the disease was still present in all parts of the country, making its early detection and treatment critical to eliminating it.
He said that, while treatment was free, including Leprosy in the National Health Insurance (NHIS) coverage would help to accelerate the zero-infection target.
“We need the government to commit resources to look for NTDs, not just Leprosy but all the others including Buruli ulcer and Lymphatic among others, saying “drugs come into the country, we need resources and waivers from the port to transport the medicines to the communities for patients to access,” he said.
He called for public education to aid in the fight against stigmatization of people living with Leprosy.
“People are afraid of the disease, even healthcare workers are afraid. You have a disease that is so rare, the numbers have gone down, which means sustaining expertise and that becomes a problem.
“You can train someone today and the next time the person is going to school or moved to another place. We must keep on training with enough resources.”
Dr Quao urged the public to show love to lepers, adding that Leprosy was not infectious as people thought.
He also warned the public to avoid self-treatment if they noticed any strange patches on their skin.
GNA