Leprosy Case Detection Campaign

Leprosy Case Detection Campaign (LCDC) is an unique initiative under the National Leprosy Control Programme (NLEP). The objective of the campaign is the early detection of leprosy in affected persons so that they can be saved from physical disability and deformity by providing them timely treatment and thus also halting the transmission of disease at the community level.

As part of the campaign, each and every member of the targeted population will be examined by the search team constituted of one male and one female volunteer at household level. House to house visits will be done by the search team as per the micro plan prepared for the local area to detect hidden and undetected leprosy cases.

Activities taken up under LCDC

The important activities under LCDC are as under:

• Scheduled meetings of various committees formed at each level i.e., National, State, District, Block to plan & implement the LCDC.
• Focused training of all health functionaries from District to Village level.
• House to house visits by team encompassing one Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) and male volunteer i.e. Field Level Worker (FLW ), as per micro - plans prepared for local areas.
• Intensive IEC activities, through miking & display of banners /posters during and before the LCDC .
• Supervision of house to house search activities through identified field supervisors.
• Scheduled meetings with community leaders/representatives to resolve any issue came across during the campaign.
• Systematic collection and compilation of reports from Field teams and supervisors through formats designed for the purpose.
• Prompt analyses and feedback on data received from teams, supervisors, monitors, medical officers which will help to plan corrective actions.

Recent campaigns

During 2016, the first LCDC was launched during March-April 2016 in 50 districts of 7 states namely Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh wherein a population of about 6.8 crores was covered. During this campaign 65427 suspected cases were identified out of which 4120 were later confirmed.

The second LCDC was launched on 5th September 2016 across 149 districts of 19 states/UTs. The fortnight-long campaign will cover 1656 blocks/urban areas of these districts and screen a total of 32 crore people for leprosy. For this purpose, 297604 teams comprising of one lady ASHA worker and one male volunteer each would visit every house in their allotted area and screen all the family members for leprosy. The states and UTs covered in this campaign are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Delhi and Lakshadweep. The districts having a prevalence rate of more than one case per 10,000 population in any of the last three years have been included in this campaign.

Central Leprosy Division during 2021 introduced a new strategy - Active Case Detection and Regular Surveillance (ACD&RS) throughout the year) for leprosy both in rural and urban areas in order to ensure detection of leprosy cases on regular  basis and at an early stage in order to prevent grade II disabilities.  Further, with a view to scale up the screening, leprosy screening has been converged under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram and Comprehensive  Primary Health Care under Ayushman Bharat. To view th details of ACD&RS, click here.

Source : National Leprosy Control Programme