Brazil legislates to raise hanseniasis detection:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The Brazilian health ministry has approved a decree setting out a strategy aimed at eliminating hanseniasis. The government is seeking to increase detection by 30% in the more than 607 municipalities worst affected by the disease, with the aim of reducing its incidence to less than one per 10,000 inhabitants by 2005. It has allocated R$48m (US$12.1m) in 2002 to jointly tackle hanseniasis and tuberculosis. The decree, approved on October 9 2002, sets out a system of incentives by which municipalities and state authorities will receive R$60 and R$10, respectively, for every new confirmed case.