Sustaining early case detection under low endemic situation; The group felt that early case detection should be a goal regardless of the level of endemicity. The following measures were felt to be important in maintaining early detection under low endemic situation.
･ Under low endemic situation the early case detection should be aimed to benefit the patient and not aimed at benefiting the community by cutting disease transmission.
･ Maintaining public awareness about the disease will be crucial under such circumstances.
･ Integration and strengthening the integration process will be the key measure to sustain early detection.
･ Training of the general health workers for early diagnosis will be important and referral facilities should be made available at the suitable level to ensure that necessary expertise exist to deal with certain diagnostic problems which the general health services may not be able to tackle.
･ Leprosy should also be included in management of common skin diseases at the peripheral levels for which collaboration with the dermatological services is needed i.e. Training.
M.T. Htoon, World Health Organization, Geneva, SWITZERLAND
