Yaws in Southeast Asia: an overview

A summary is presented of yaws control programs, from their initiation up to the present, in India, Indonesia, and Thailand. In all three countries, the prevalence was spectacularly reduced. From 1950 to 1961, in Java and Bali the rates fell from 11.34% to 0.72%, and comparable results were achieved in India and Thailand. In all programs, resurveys were carried out after the original mass treatment campaigns, and quite successful efforts were made to integrate the yaws control activities into more general health services. Although a small number of active cases of yaws in localized foci are still found, with the rapid expansion of primary health services and continuing surveillance for yaws and the appropriate use of selective or juvenile mass treatment approaches, it should be possible to achieve eradication in the foreseeable future.