DILI, 28 january 2022 (TATOLI) – The World Health Organization (WHO) is committed to supporting Timor-Leste’s National Leprosy Eradication Program to end leprosy in the country.
WHO Representative to Timor-Leste, Arvind Mathur said WHO has been supporting the government of Timor-Leste in terms of high-level advocacy, the procurement of anti-leprosy medicines, and capacity building and training.
He said what WHO has been done in terms of high-level advocacy, including convincing the government and the Ministry of Health (MoH) for ending leprosy in Timor-Leste.
Concerning the advocacy role: “It just not advocating with Ministry of Health, but the higher-level advocacy to bring it on political agenda to say that it is a public health problem. It’s also to bring to donors’ attention and bring to the attention of partners like civil societies, and NGOs. So that they are also involved in combating leprosy in Timor-Leste.”
Mathur said one of the critical gaps was to bring it to a higher political pedestal, that there could be a commitment by the government of Timor-Leste to accept that the nation can move towards zero leprosies.
“Political commitment is very critical. We are now very happy that with the honorable Health Minister, Her Excellency, Dr. Odete Maria Freitas Belo, we have been able to get that political commitment and the Ministry of Health is committed towards zero leprosies.
“We are an advocate to end leprosy, it’s not possible unless we have a strategic plan. So, what we are doing, we have helped MoH to develop their National Strategic NTDs Plan towards zero leprosies in Timor-Leste for 2022-25. And any strategic plan cannot be implemented unless we know what it will cost. So, we have worked with the Ministry of Health to cost this strategic plan,” Mathur said.
He said WHO has been working across the communicable diseases for Timor-Leste, including leprosy.
“WHO has been helping MoH in the procurement of anti-leprosy medicines. Based on the estimated number of cases, WHO was bringing the medicines for leprosy patients for the last few years, and we will continue to do so for the coming years as well.
He stressed that the provision of proper treatment and early detection is important to eradicate leprosy in Timor-Leste.
“For leprosy patients, we need to provide treatment to them, but we also do early detection and prevention and that is possible for our guidelines are evidence-based. We follow the latest guidelines also support the Ministry of Health for the monitoring and evaluation,” he said.
Apart from high-level advocacy and the procurement of the medicines, Mathur said capacity building and training for the health workers are also needed to ensure early diagnosis of leprosy in the country: “The health workers are needed to be trained to identify the leprosy cases at an early stage and for which WHO support capacity building for the Ministry of Health’s workers, not only in Dili but across the municipalities.”
“So, we support and collaborate with the MoH for the number of training on early detection of leprosy, on treatment guidelines, managing the complications of leprosy, and also addressing the issue of stigma which is related to leprosy,” he said.
In addition, WHO had been engaging with NGOs and civil societies, for example, the Leprosy Mission in Timor-Leste to combat leprosy in the country.
Mathur said involving NGOs and civil societies in advocacy, capacity building and training, case identification and reporting are critical towards ending leprosy.
The challenge which will remain there is how do we continue to implement based on the guidelines of early detection of leprosy cases. It’s not only when the patient comes to the hospital, but I am saying that we need to do more active case finding, there must be more engagement and involvement of the Family Health Program teams to be also working at the municipality levels for active case detection of leprosy, he said.
Mathur emphasized it is important to ensure that leprosy patients accept treatment, receive medicines, and consume the medicines.
In 2018, WHO reviewed available evidence on key issues related to the elimination of leprosy and developed ‘WHO guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of leprosy 2018’, recommending a three-drug regimen (rifampicin, dapsone, and clofazimine) to both paucibacillary and multibacillary types of leprosy.
The guidelines also introduced the prevention of leprosy through a single dose of rifampicin for eligible familiar and social contacts.
Earlier this week, the Chief of the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Program of the Ministry of Health, Jose Liu Fernandes revealed that since 2000, MoH registered more than 5.000 cases of leprosy in Timor-Leste, while Leprosy Mission Timor-Leste (LMTL) recorded around 3.000 cases, since 2004.
Last year, MoH recorded 150 cases of leprosy in eight municipalities and the Special Administrative Region of Oé-Cusse Ambeno (RAEOA).
Of the 150 cases, 30 were detected in Baucau, 28 in Dili, 19 in Covalima, 18 in Ainaro, 17 in Manatuto, 15 in RAEOA, seven in Liquiçá, two in Lautém and one in Viqueque municipality.
Fernandes reiterated MoH’s commitment to eliminate leprosy in the country by 2030.
He said the leprosy awareness campaign would be broadcasted on TV and Radio on january 28, to raise the awareness of the communities on combating leprosy in Timor-Leste.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia B
