Eradicating successfully yaws from India: The strategy & global lessons

Yaws, a non-venereal treponematosis, affecting primarily the tribal populations, has been considered historically as one of the most neglected tropical diseases in the world. In 1996, India piloted an initiative to eradicate yaws based on a strategy consisting of active case finding through house-to-house search and treatment of cases and their contacts with long acting penicillin. Thereafter, the campaign implemented in all 51 endemic districts in 10 states of the country led to the achievement of a yaws-free status in 2004. In the post-elimination phase, surveillance activities accompanied by serological surveys were continued in the erstwhile endemic districts. These surveys carried out among children between the age of 1-5 yr, further confirmed the absence of community transmission in the country. The experience of India demonstrates that yaws can be eradicated in all endemic countries of Africa and Asia, provided that political commitment can be mobilized and community level activities sustained until the goal is achieved.