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Project: Buruli Ulcer
Partner: MAP International (Medical Assistance Program)
Knowing what to look for in detecting cases of Buruli ulcer is critical to early treatment to prevent permanent disability. ALM partners with MAP International in the training of community health workers, nurses, mid-wives, medical doctors and district hospital surgeons.
Early detection and treatment helps decrease later development of the disease, complications and disabilities. Therefore, training health professionals, community health workers, and primary school teachers in Buruli ulcer early detection and care is necessary. The health districts where ALM is involved trains approximately 600 health professionals, 1500 community health workers and almost 1,000 primary school teachers.
More about buruli ulcer...
Buruli ulcer disease is assuming public health importance in many countries, prompting the establishment of a Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative by the World health Organization (WHO) in 1998. The organism that causes BU—Mycobacterium ulcerans—belongs to the same class of bacteria that causes TB and leprosy.
Mycobacterium ulcerans infection was first described in Australia in 1948 and later named Buruli ulcer, after a county in Uganda. Since then, cases have been reported throughout the tropical and subtropical world. It is endemic in Western Africa and parts of Eastern and Central Africa.
One characteristic of the disease Buruli Ulcer (BU) is its apparent association with bodies of water worldwide. The recent identification of M. ulcerans in certain water insects called Cyclops has raised the possibility of mechanical transmission of the infection. Buruli ulcer commonly affects Children.
Although Buruli ulcer has been identified and tracked throughout the twentieth century, a dramatic increase has been noted just in the past two decades. Many experts believe that this is the result of the environmental degradation of wetlands, deforestation, and changes in agricultural practices. The actual method of transmission remains unknown, but its existence threatens both the physical and social wellbeing of people in twenty-seven countries, with predominance in West Africa. Women, as well as children between ages two and 15, are disproportionately affected.
Complicated cases involve surgical treatment and can require a hospital stay of a year or more, further depriving victims of their livelihood and placing an additional burden on an inadequate health care system.
Although Buruli ulcer has been identified and tracked throughout the twentieth century, a dramatic increase has been noted just in the past two decades. Many experts believe that this is the result of the environmental degradation of wetlands, deforestation, and changes in agricultural practices. The actual method of transmission remains unknown, but its existence threatens both the physical and social wellbeing of people in twenty-seven countries, with predominance in West Africa. Women, as well as children between ages two and 15, are disproportionately affected.
This disease that causes so much pain and suffering to children in West Africa is the third most common mycobacterial disease in humans after tuberculosis and leprosy.
This disease that causes so much pain and suffering to children in West Africa is the third most common mycobacterial disease in humans after tuberculosis and leprosy.