MS. Veera M. Rao

 

MS. VEERA M RAO, DIRECTOR, ALERT INDIA

"STRIVING FOR THE LEPROSY AFFECTED REHABILITATION WITH A NEVER GIVE UP ATTITUDE"

 

 It is 28 years since I joined hands with  a team of social workers who were driven by inspiration and determination to work for the leprosy affected under ALERT INDIA NGO banner. ALERT INDIA is a secular, voluntary organization with the dream of saving lives by curing them without disabilities by creating awareness in the community. It has taken up on the challenge to detect, treat and cure leprosy affected prevent from displacement, destitution and degradation. Today, despite the announcement of leprosy elimination, transmission continues. This has led to late detection, increased deformity, child cases, continuation of prevalent myths, stigma leading to social discrimination and neglect. Discrimination continues to be an important public health/ social concern. Since its inception in 1978, ALERT-INDIA is primarily committed to improve the quality of life of people affected by leprosy. It also strives to assist them in their medical, social and economic rehabilitation.

 

Public Perception As Against Reality:

The fight against leprosy is far from over. The intermediate goal of 1 case of leprosy in 10,000 population set by WHO was achieved nationally in 2005.However the ground realities called for renewed strategies. Even today, 15 people are newly diagnosed with leprosy every hour in the country, according to NLEP (National Leprosy Eradication Programme) statistics. ‘This new policy also means leprosy services are made available in public health facilities. Leprosy is treated on par with other diseases to reduce social stigma. The public perception that 'leprosy is eliminated', leads to a misunderstanding that 'leprosy is no more a public health problem'. People tend to believe that by achieving the goal of 'leprosy elimination’ (prevalence of 1 case per 10,000 population) it is the end of all leprosy related concerns. A clear consensus among programme managers and leprosy workers is that it is essential to sustain leprosy control activities to further reduce the 'disease burden'.

 

 

Contribution Towards The Alleviating Human Suffering:

ALERT INDIA specializes in community based disease prevention, control, policy advocacy and is a health-care organization with 40+ years of leprosy work experience in rural, tribal and slums of Maharashtra, India. Since 2003, ALERT INDIA reached out to over 15 million people and directly impacted more than 4,00,000 lives. ALERT-INDIA's 'Leprosy Elimination Action Programme in endemic districts of Maharashtra offers a focused approach to achieve leprosy control. As many as 9000 villages were covered in 2018- 22.

Early case detection is core of ALERT INDIA's leprosy control strategy. In the COVER STORY project areas greater emphasis was given to detecting infectious patients who are the source of spreading the disease in the community. Health education always plays an important part of all interventions in the community.

 

Achievements Worth Nothing In The Long Journey:

• Consistently reaching underserved/ high risk communities and building next generations to serve and care; through training, publications, knowledge and information. Focused for disease prevention, timely treatment, cure and care for people affected before adverse consequences, without segregation from their family and society.

• Demonstration of a compelling programmatic approach to make a lasting impact.

• Treatment, Relief and rehabilitation support to the most vulnerable

• Livelihoods & skill building including care, mental wellbeing, resilience building within their communities.

• Promoting social protection, gender equity, inclusion through public policy advocacy to enable rebuilding the impacted communities.

• Published document series on policy and programmatic aspects.

 

Partnerships 

 

Partnerships begin with families in the marginalized communities by mainstreaming affected individuals in society through CSO( Civil Society Organisations), government and leprosy institutions. Thus, ALERT has sensitized the community and the government in ensuring entitlements, health benefits, welfare schemes leading to inclusion of people affected. ALERT is a Partner NGO with: Government of India; Government of Maharashtra and also Jharkhand. An 'Assured Partner' of Give India and has Validation by GuideStar India, and CSR Hub of TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences). Six National workshops have been conducted in collaboration with the government, WHO and other stakeholders.

 

Innovation In Program Design:

 ‘The first step at ground level is establishing a community led surveillance to identify hotspots, detection, prevention of disability with care and support for the underserved. Next, was collaboration with the traditional health system, welfare departments, panchayats, ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activist) & community to address prevalent myths, stigma and discrimination. Instilling faith in the health services of the government meant collaboration with public health and establishing referral centers in government rural hospitals Corporate Social Focus - A CSR Magazine, April 2023 with specialized leprosy services.

 

Leprosy Referral Centers (LRC) at rural hospitals are the signposts for the public and for the leprosy affected. Key leprosy control tasks at the center are: confirmation of diagnosis, specialized care and services to the new leprosy cases; specialized service to minimize the consequences of deformities and disabilities; training and orientation of PHC(Primary Health Centre) personnel to build their capacity to detect and treat leprosy.