Mozambique: 'Xivotxongo' producers may be shut down
Cases of leprosy in Mozambique increased from 2016 to 2017 – minister
5:55 CAT | 30 Jan 2018
File photo: AFP
The number of leprosy cases in Mozambique has increased from 2016 to 2017, with central and northern provinces having the highest prevalence rate, the health minister has said.
In total, the country registered 2,000 cases of leprosy in 2017, against 1,500 in 2016, according to Nazira Abudula, quoted today by the daily Notícias.
The provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula in the north of the country, and Zambezia in the centre, registered the largest number of cases of this infectious disease, which is transmitted by a bacterium through saliva and affects the skin and nerves.
Of the total number of cases registered in the country in 2017, 200 were diagnosed in children.
“This means that the problem persists. It means that older people are transmitting the disease to younger ones, children under their care,” she said.
The Mozambican health minister called for community cooperation in treating the disease, noting that the health authorities had the medicine needed to fight it.
“We have no problem with lack of medicine. The ministry has enough drugs to fight this disease in all health units,” she added.
Mozambique and Brazil are among the countries that the United Nations considers its priority interventions against leprosy, it announced on World Leprosy Day on Sunday.
The World Health Organisation recorded 214,783 cases of leprosy in 2016, including 12,437 people with a serious degree of disability.
In addition to Brazil and Mozambique, the United Nations is concerned about leprosy in India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Burma (Myanmar), Nepal, the Philippines, Ethiopia and Nigeria.
Source: Lusa
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