Purple January: Community service and walk highlights the program at FUHAM

Manaus (AM) — The State Department of Health of Amazonas (SES-AM), through the Fundação Hospitalar Alfredo da Matta (FUHAM), an institution providing assistance, teaching and research in Health, concluded a special program alluding to Purple January, a month dedicated to Leprosy, with guidance actions, reinforcement of care and active search for new cases of the disease. On the last Sunday of the month, the 28th, World Leprosy Day will be celebrated.

According to the CEO of FUHAM, Carlos Chirano, all of Janeiro Roxo’s actions have one main objective, which is to draw attention to the public health problem that Leprosy still represents in Brazil, including in Amazonas.

“The important thing about these actions is to encourage people to make an early diagnosis and avoid mutilations, (physical) disabilities and interrupt the chain of transmission. Leprosy is still a serious disease, which passes from one person to another, and every infectious disease, as long as there is an infected person, has a risk of spreading the disease”,

said Carlos Chirano.

Walk

The Purple January program at FUHAM begins on the 21st, Sunday, from 9 am, when the “Derma-a-pé Walk” will be held, with a concentration in Praça do Relógio, on Avenida Eduardo Ribeiro. Participants will walk up the avenue, taking advantage of the movement of people at the Crafts Fair, providing basic guidance on Leprosy.

Mutirão

On the 28th, Saturday of the following weekend, FUHAM opens its doors to the 1st Dermatological Mutirão of the year. The objective is to receive people who have some type of blemish on their skin, providing dermatological care, in general, but carrying out the so-called active search for undiagnosed cases of Leprosy. There is no need to be referred from other health units to receive care.

The service starts at 7am, at the FUHAM headquarters, located at Avenida Codajás, nº 24, Cachoeirinha neighborhood, South Zone of Manaus. Service runs until 3pm. Around 80 professionals, including doctors, nurses, administrative and support staff, will be mobilized.

FUHAM will also carry out rapid tests for Syphilis and HIV during the Mutirão. The skin is one of the organs of the human body that is most affected by the evolution of HIV infection.

Seminar

Closing the program, FUHAM will hold, on February 3rd (Saturday), the seminar “THINKING ABOUT LEPROSY: Clinical, Laboratory, Epidemiological Aspects and Perspectives”. The event starts at 8am, ending at 12:30pm, and will be held in the Auditorium of the School of Health Sciences (ESA) of the State University of Amazonas (UEA).

The event includes lectures on topics such as Leprosy Epidemiology: Current Situation, Clinical Manifestations of Leprosy, Leprosy Treatment – ​​MDT and Alternative Schemes, among others. The list of speakers includes health professionals such as Sinésio Talhari, Heitor Gonçalves, Mariane Stefani, Rossilene Cruz, with all their names available on the FUHAM website, at www.fuham.am.gov.br.

Registration is free, as is participation. For students in the Health area, certificates will be provided.

Disease numbers

In 2023, 310 new cases of Leprosy were detected in the State of Amazonas. Of the total new cases, 106 (34.2%) were residents of Manaus and 204 (65.8%) were residents of 42 other municipalities. In the age group over 15 years old, 290 (93.5%) cases were detected and 20 in children under 15 years old (6.5%). Compared to 2022, when 344 cases were registered, there was a 10.9% reduction in the total number of cases.

In relation to the detection rate, Amazonas went from 44.3/100 thousand inhabitants in 2000 to 7.26/100 thousand inhabitants in 2023, which represented a reduction of 82.1%, however the endemicity parameter is still considered average.

In municipalities in the interior, this decrease was also observed in the same period (2000 to 2023). Manaus showed similar downward behavior to the state, with a reduction of 88.9% in the period. Today, Manaus has a detection rate of 4.7/100 thousand inhabitants, in the average endemicity parameter.

Amazonas currently occupies 17th place in the ranking of Brazilian states in terms of number of registered cases of Leprosy, according to the Ministry of Health. The data are from the Department of Disease Control and Epidemiology (DCDE) of FUHAM. The Alfredo da Matta Hospital Foundation houses the coordination of the State Program to Combat Leprosy and is a reference center for the treatment of the disease with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

*With information from consultancy

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