Leprosy/Sub-Saharan Africa

University of Zambia Medical Library

Leprosy Situation 1998: Sub-Saharan Africa (WHO-DOCS 12)

Definitions:
Registered cases: Patients registered as leprosy cases in need of chemotherapy at the end of a given year
New cases: Individuals newly detected showing clinical and/or bacteriological signs of leprosy during a given year who have never been treated before
MDT coverage: Proportion of registered cases being treated with Multidrug therapy (MDT) at the end of a given year

Limitations:
Some countries are not using recommended case definitions. Number of registered cases may be cumulative, including patients having completed their treatment but still under surveillance.

The number of new cases should not be interpreted as the number of incident cases. It reflects mainly the capacity of health services to diagnose leprosy cases. These cases could have remained undetected for several years (1 to 20 years).

Number of Leprosy Cases by Country

17371

Country	Registered Cases	New Cases	MDT Coverage %
Angola	2199	65	100
Botswana	29	0	100
Burkina Faso	726	801	100
Burundi	86	79	100
Cameroon	2481	707	100
Cape Verde	37	11	100
Central African Rep.	2450	349	94
Chad	3238	1015	96
Congo	1053	237	62
Equatorial Guinea	132	31	100
Ethiopia	9627	5160	100
Gabon	2363	158	27
Gambia	74	93	78
Ghana	2076	1529	100
Guinea	3873	3194	100
Ivory Coast	2168	1923	100
Kenya	738	279	100
Lesotho	36	9	100
Liberia	483	199	59
Madagascar	6130	4676	100
Malawi	1000	819	100
Mali	4804	1257	100
Mauritius	436	228	76
Mozambique	11072	3430	72
Namibia	0	0	0
Niger	2804	1592	85
Nigeria	17371	7147	100
Rwanda	92	23	100
Senegal	754	482	100
Seychelles	41	3	46
Sierre Leone	561	1021	100
Somalia	1084	165	66
South Africa	367	280	100
Swaziland	14	2	100
Tanzania	3924	2537	100
Togo	460	379	100
Uganda	1045	1258	100
Zaire	4877	4573	94
Zambia	1296	612	100
Zimbabwe	118	54	80

MDT coverage reflects only the proportion of cases already identified by health services and treated with MDT. High MDT coverage does not necessarily reflects the quality of health services. Moreover, it does not give any information on health services coverage. For some countries with small number of cases, information is out of date.

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Last updated January 21, 1999