ASHA based Surveillance for Leprosy Suspects (ABSULS): An Innovation for Enhancing Active Case Search of Leprosy at Community Level

National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP), India, witnessed the successful implementation of several innovations since 2015 in phased manner such as Leprosy Case Detection Campaign (LCDC), Focussed Leprosy Campaign (FLC), Sparsh Leprosy Awareness Campaign (SLAC) etc. In the series, to strengthen the routine case detection and to address the need for quality surveillance for leprosy in the community, ASHA Based Surveillance for Leprosy Suspects (ABSULS) introduced in year 2017. Under this unique approach to detect cases early, Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA), locally recruited community health worker, accountable for the health conditions of approximately two hundred households’, report the number of suspects or nil suspects identified during the previous month with signature in the monthly meetings. The information submitted by ASHAs is compiled by supervisors and submitted in hierarchy which is validated through field visits by health system functionaries at each level in hierarchy. This active surveillance by the community itself and validation even of nil cases by health system is the gold standard to ensure early detection of leprosy cases in routine mostly without disability.