Tuberculosis control is good for established leprosy programmes

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) control was introduced into part of the Danish Bangladesh Leprosy Mission's large leprosy control programme in 1994. This was in line with the Government's policy of combining leprosy and TB control. We report our experience with integration. Leprosy case-finding has increased during the period, and staff satisfaction and morale has also risen despite the larger workload. We observed that the field work skills of leprosy workers was brought to bear in a very positive way on TB control. TB patients suffer considerable impoverishment as a result of their illness, paralleling the social dehabilitation often seen in leprosy sufferers. TB control is good for established leprosy programmes.