Leprosy control in Zimbabwe: from a vertical to a horizontal programme

In Zimbabwe leprosy control services were re-established in 1983, following the war of independence. Its main objectives were the nation-wide implementation of multiple drug treatment (MDT) and the integration of leprosy control into the general health services. The MDT regimens have led to a rapid reduction of the prevalence of leprosy. At the beginning of 1989 357 patients were on treatment and 1299 under follow-up. Six hundred and twenty-seven new cases have been detected since 1984, which represents an annual case detection rate of 1.6 per 100,000. This seems a fair reflection of the incidence rate, as the new cases are characterized by a minority of patients under the age of 15 (4%) and a lepromatous percentage of 50%. As the budget of the programme has remained unchanged integration of leprosy control into the general health services has become imperative. However, this transition is now hindered by a number of obstacles that were not foreseen at the start of the programme, because they are in measure corollaries of the successful implementation of MDT. Most of the problems that leprosy control is facing in Zimbabwe could have been avoided if instruction in leprosy had been introduced into the curricula of the (para) medical training schools 20 years ago.