National workshop on 'Best practices to ensure sustainable quality care for leprosy affected persons at the district level referral centres through general health care system'.

Recently, in line with the target date of the global Millennium Development Goals (MDG-6), WHO has proposed an ‘enhanced global strategy’ to sustain leprosy control and to further reduce the global burden of leprosy by 2015. The thrust of achieving the goal of ‘elimination’ of leprosy as a public health problem at national level by the Government of India (GOI) has changed forever the method of leprosy control work that is being undertaken in the country by all players. The strategic policy for integrating leprosy services with the general health care (GHC) system resulted in the total dismantling of the vertical system and transferring the principal responsibility for leprosy control to the GHC system. The GHC system at primary level shouldered the basic task of providing MDT to all new leprosy affected people. The secondary and tertiary level centres were expected and relied on to provide quality services to needy leprosy affected people through referrals. Hence, there is a dire need to create appropriate support structures and effective referral mechanisms within the GHC system, both to sustain quality leprosy services on a long term basis, and to ensure the rights of leprosy affected people.