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Doctors and nurses in hinterland regions trained to detect leprosy

Sep 08, 2016 News

In an effort to detect and manage leprosy, a workshop is currently being held for doctors and nurses from several hinterland districts at the Ministry of Public Health’s Skin Clinic, located in the Palms Brickdam compound.
The training is a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) and the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO). It concludes on September 16.
Guyana has eliminated leprosy at the national level and the fight continues to have it eradicated at the sub-national level. In the last two decades, the country has reported 31 new cases of Hansen’s disease also known as leprosy.
The disease is caused by a slow-growing type of bacteria. It primarily affects the skin and the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord. The main symptom of leprosy is disfiguration of the skin, sores, lumps, or bumps that do not go away after several weeks or months.
PAHO/WHO’s representative, Dr. William Adu-Krow said that the Ministry’s training for leprosy diagnosis, assessment of disability, prevention and management and promotion of self-care, are to strengthen the leprosy control programme.
Dr. Adu-Krow explained that the main objective of the training is to develop the capacity of health workers from the hinterland regions to recognize, treat and manage cases of leprosy, and to prevent and/or minimize impairments and disability.
“It’s not to say that people are not exposed to management of leprosy, but training like this increases the index of suspicion,” Dr. Adu-Krow said.
The Public Health Minister, Dr. George Norton, addressing the mostly hinterland health care providers said that the training will create awareness and build the capacity of the hinterland health workers, and simultaneously, boost the national leprosy programme.
He commended the programme’s coordinators for involving Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine, since the training will aid the health workers in recognizing, treating and managing cases of leprosy early, and also to prevent and/or minimize impairments.
“It is the Ministry’s vision to concentrate on prevention …on most of the diseases and sicknesses from an early stage,” the Minister said.
In relation to children, the Public Health Minister pointed out that there are still a number of challenges in detecting the disease among children.
Also there is the challenge of stigma and discrimination with persons affected with leprosy.
“That is why I am happy that the hinterland is included in the training, because we must not wait for affected persons to come to us, but we must go out to them and assess them so they can be treated,” Minister Norton explained.
Facilitator of the training, Brazilian Dr. Jaison Barreto, explained that migration can cause leprosy, so no one is completely free from the disease.
The doctor encouraged the health workers to seek persons who might be affected and not be afraid to treat them for the disease can be eliminated from Guyana completely.

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