Training of health workers in leprosy work will have to be pursued 4. Awareness of leprosy in the community should be kept at a reasonable level 5. The task of rehabilitation of the former leprosy patients will have to be addressed in all countries with the assistance of Governments and NGOs. In some countries leprosy patients are being isolated from the rest of society. Since the 1960s WHO advertise and support ambulatory treatment of leprosy patients and recommend that the patient stay with his family.
Treatment is provided by any health facility.
The most important component of the MDT regimens is rifampicin. The majority of rifampicin-susceptible M. leprae are killed by a few monthly doses of rifampicin. Recently it has been shown that the daily combination of dapsone and clofazimine is highly bactericidal. This combination is capable of eliminating any rifampicin-resistant mutants in an untreated MB leprosy patient within three to six months. Therefore, the Seventh WHO Expert Committee considered that the duration of treatment of MB leprosy can be reduced to 12 months without compromising the efficacy of the MDT regimen.