Indonesia is in the third rank of leprosy cases after India and Brazil.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – Director General of Disease Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health Achmad Yurianto said that leprosy until now it is still a health problem in Indonesia. He said, there are eight provinces in Indonesia that have not eliminated leprosy, namely West Papua, Papua, Maluku, North Maluku, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, West Sulawesi and Gorontalo.
This disease can cause permanent disability and lead to economic problems and social discrimination for sufferers and their families if they do not get proper treatment. Leprosy, according to Yuri, is still a health problem in many countries in the world.
Every year, more than 200 thousand people are diagnosed with leprosy in the world and around 17 thousand of them are in Indonesia. This makes Indonesia ranked third after India and Brazil in the largest number of people affected by leprosy in the world.
The Leprosy Information System (SIPK) as of August 25, 2020 shows that there are still 146 regencies and cities that have not achieved elimination, spread across 26 provinces. Meanwhile, the number leprosy cases there are around 18 thousand registered and scattered in approximately 7,548 villages or sub-districts or villages, covering a working area of approximately 1,975 puskesmas, in 341 districts / cities in Indonesia.
This shows that in the provinces and districts / cities that have achieved leprosy elimination it turns out that they still have leprosy cases. Seeing the specifics and characteristics of leprosy, according to Yuri, an adequate understanding and technical ability of health workers in the field is needed, as well as an accurate diagnosis ability.
The Ministry of Health launched the Leprosy Prevention and Control Distance Training Module (PJJ P2) to keep improving the knowledge and skills of representatives supervisor (wasor) leprosy in provinces and districts-cities in the new habit era (new normal). Yurianto highly appreciates the steps that have been taken by the Directorate of Prevention and Control of Direct Communicable Diseases (P2PML) to continue implementing the adaptation of new habits during the Covid-19 pandemic in increasing the knowledge and skills of leprosy wasor in provinces and regencies-cities through the distance training method.
“To facilitate the transition from the classic training model to this long distance training model, of course adjustments have been made of several components, such as the training curriculum and modules, training guides, tutors and participants, and organizers,” he said.
With the completion of the PJJ P2 leprosy module preparation, it is hoped that the central, provincial and district / city governments can implement training in their respective areas as an effort to strengthen human resources in the prevention of leprosy.
“My hope is that in the future, the PJJ P2 Leprosy module can be used immediately in supporting the achievement of leprosy elimination in Indonesia. In principle, how can we prevent healthy people from being infected with leprosy and how leprosy sufferers can be controlled so they do not transmit and become disabled, “said Yurianto.
source: Between
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