All school heads, teachers, students and parents will be educated this year on measures to prevent the spread of leprosy as many children were found to have suffered from leprosy last year.
Kurunegala DMO Dr. S.M.A. Priyadarshana told the Sunday Observer yesterday that around 2,200 PHIs and 3,000 Family Health Nurses will be deployed to educate the school community countrywide by conducting awareness programs at school level. The Ministry of Health will launch this program in collaboration with the Ministry of Education to eradicate leprosy from Sri Lanka. He said that this program will be conducted under the guidance of the Director of the National Leprosy Control Campaign of Sri Lanka Dr. Prasad Ranaweera.
Nearly 1,550 people with leprosy were detected countrywide last year. Of them, 173 were children under 14 years, he said.
Dr. Priyadarshana said that 50 percent of the leprosy patients had been detected in Colombo, Gampaha and the Batticaloa districts.
Of them, 315 patients were from Colombo, 168 from Gampaha, 151 from Batticaloa and 120 from the Kalutara districts.
According to the data of the Health Ministry, the percentage of children who suffer from leprosy in the world stands at four to five percent and the percentage in Sri Lanka is 10 -11 percent at present, the Kurunegala DMO added.
