[Public policies in Leprosy: contribution in reduction of social exclusion].

The study examines the performance of the sector of leprosy as a municipality of Minas Gerais, from January 1996 to December 2004, through a descriptive and retrospective study of medical records of patients who started multi-drug therapy in this period. It was the frequent presence of the state technical supervision, with attention to the most severe cases, courses of training for professionals and constant support in the face of difficulties. The result was increasing the number of cases detected and improvement in quality of care to the diseased of leprosy. Currently, 100% of cases are assessed on the degree of disability, in addition to monitoring the reactions and neuritis, thus preventing deformities.