According to the World Health Organization, 1,27,558 new leprosy cases were detected globally in 2020. There was a reduction in new case detection by 37 per cent in 2020 compared with 2019 because of disruption in the programme due to Covid-19 pandemic.

In light of the World Leprosy Day, (30 January) the book, Dr SK Noordeen: Architect of the Global Leprosy Elimination Programme was launched. Dr Derek Lobo, the author has mentioned: “India accounts for 57 per cent of leprosy cases globally, whereas 121 countries account for 40 per cent of cases. The WHO is working tremendously to eliminate leprosy, in fact 31 countries have recorded 0 leprosy cases whereas 30 countries recorded less than 10 cases nationally. Only Brazil, India & Indonesia are such countries which have recorded more than 10,000 cases of leprosy.”

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Sasakawa-India Leprosy Foundation aims to end the stigma against the disease and ensure equal social, economic and cultural opportunities for those affected. Tarun Das, chairman of the foundation and former mentor of CII said, “Both the Centre and state governments are doing enough to cap the cases. The numbers have also reduced in India. Now, we have multi-drug therapy, which is available free-of-cost. Now, many people with leprosy backgrounds are in the mainstream. There is more awareness and there is a target that by 2027 we will eliminate leprosy. What we are doing is providing livelihood to people with leprosy and also providing them with skill development training, apart from giving nursing scholarships to women.”

Doctors say that early detection, raising awareness, and upskilling the healthcare workers to test through modern methods is something WHO and countries affected by leprosy are working on.

Prior to the pandemic, over 2,00,000 new cases were being reported annually. An estimated 3 to 4 million people are thought to be living with some form of disability as a result of leprosy. Although completely curable, many myths and misunderstandings surround the disease.