Natalie Smith, interim country leader of The Leprosy Mission in Dili, said there were pockets of high number of leprosy cases around the country and a strong need still existed to educate health workers and the community at large in leprosy awareness to ensure early diagnosis and treatment.
Community education to correct the myths and stigma towards the disease was also needed to prevent people from feeling shame, hiding their condition and failing to seek medical treatment such as Multi Drug Therapy for leprosy, she said.
Ms Smith, an occupational therapist and project manager, made her comments in response to the news that leprosy has been eliminated as a major public health threat, with less than one case per 10,000 being recorded.
The news was delivered by the president of East Timor, Jose Ramos Horta on March 24 and confirmed by the WHO. WHO is the body in charge of the free distribution of Multi Drug Therapy in the island nation.
"Announcing that leprosy has been eliminated as a public health problem in East Timor will not mean that leprosy is gone, it is still there, it just means that leprosy is below one case per 10,000,'' she said.
"East Timor as a whole has reached that elimination level but there are still pockets of high leprosy cases. In the isolated enclave of Oecussi, the level is still seven leprosy cases per 10,000, which means it is still a big problem in that area. . . . there are also people in the country who still hide their skin condition because of stigma, so the problem is not solved.''
Ms Smith oversees TLM's Timore Leste capacity building and community rehabilitation projects in conjunction with the Timor Leste Ministry of Health. The capacity building project provides training and support to government health workers in leprosy detection and treatment. So far the project has assisted more than 300 health workers from district community health centres to be trained in leprosy awareness.
The community rehabilitation project has initiated self-help support groups for people affected by leprosy in Oecussi and provided them with small micro-credit business loans to encourage their independence.
"The Leprosy Mission projects have played a significant part in the country reaching elimination levels, '' Ms Smith said.
"We have pretty much helped to provide all the training of health workers to detect leprosy – it is a big achievement. With leprosy, it is all about raising awareness and getting the knowledge out there in the community, that leprosy can be cured with Multi Drug Therapy. It is ignorance about leprosy hat prevents people from getting well.
"We are planning to do more work in 2011 in community education so that family members know how to detect leprosy, not just health workers."
Ms Smith said educating family members that leprosy was a disease caused from an airborne bacteria and not a curse caused by eating forbidden foods or the wrongdoing of a parent was also vital.
She said parents who had children with general or leprosy-specific disabilities, often kept their children hidden.
"We have found that parents will be ashamed to bring their disabled children out, they will keep them hidden in back rooms, they won't let them go to school or play with other children,'' Ms Smith said.
"They don't think anybody can help them so the children are often neglected. We want to correct these attitudes.''
Training government health workers in rural regions was also important in helping the 70 per cent of the country's population who lived in mountainous terrain and could not afford public transport to Dili, she said.
Out of 30 TLM international projects world-wide, Ms Smith is only one of three program leaders who are foreigners. She is preparing to train a Timorese health worker to perform her role in 2011 and mentor them for 12 months.
For more information about the work of TLM, visit www.leprosymission.org.au