(*) Grade 2 according to the new grading of WHO.
In brief, figures speaks for themselves and we have to recognize that we are facing an enormous problem. It is most likely that the present number of disabled patients is greater than the number of cases registered for treatment.
Some time ago prevention/rehabilitation was considered too expensive for developing countries. Let us remember Paul Brad who said： the greatest danger now is that we, who previously did nothing because we thought nothing could be done, will now do nothing because the little we can do seems so small compared with the size of the problem.
What are we (not) doing now?
1. Training health personnel on POD.
Undoubtedly, there is a worldwide effort in training personnel on POD. Most training centers in the world offers special courses on POD and in some countries the National Control Program has a special program for training health personnel on POD, mostly in a in service basis.
2. Preparing training/teaching materials on POD.
Teaching/learning material is probably not the problem in POD. There are many books, booklets and other sort of material on this issue. Most of them are convenient for assisting health personnel in learning basic activities. Moreover, presently these materials are been designed in a more friendly approach, making it easier to be offered and absorbed to health personnel.
3. A reasonable number of health services worldwide provide POD activities.
Although for many years POD was not taken seriously, nowadays there is an increasing awareness of leprosy control managers concerning the needs for providing POD services. In many countries POD is considered an essential part of the leprosy control program.
4. We are probably not communicating correctly with patients.
This is probably the reason we are getting such a poor results with our effort towards POD. Some of the reason could be：
- we have no time to talk to patients
- we are not talking in the language the patients understand
