Enhanced efforts and a multi- sectoral approach is needed to end the scourge of leprosy, WHO today said and asked South-East Asian countries, including India which accounted for 60 per cent of such cases worldwide in 2015, to focus on preventing disabilities in children.
"Leprosy affected 2,12,000 more people globally in 2015. Of them 60 per cent were in India. The other high-burden countries were Brazil and Indonesia. Of the new cases 8.9 per cent were children and 6.7 per cent had visible deformities.
"Enhanced efforts, renewed commitment and an inclusive approach is needed to end the scourge of leprosy which continues to afflict thousands of people every year, the majority of them in the South-East Asia region," WHO's Regional Director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said.
To effectively combat stigma, a multi-sectoral approach is needed and health authorities need to reach out to and include leprosy-affected persons and communities in their programming, she said.
"Laws or regulations that sanction or abet discrimination against persons suffering from leprosy should be repealed. A concert of voices should be mobilised to counter harmful social attitudes.
"Non-governmental and civil society organisations should be included in campaigns to challenge leprosy-related stigma and to address discrimination against affected persons and their family members," she said.
Despite being eliminated globally as a public health problem in 2000, leprosy continues to mar the lives of individuals and impacts families and communities.
Though present numbers are a fraction of what was reported a decade ago, they are "unacceptable" as an effective treatment for leprosy -- multidrug therapy, or MDT -- is available since the 1980s and can fully cure the disease, she said ahead of the World Leprosy Day on Sunday.
"Disabilities do not occur overnight, but happen after a prolonged period of undiagnosed disease. Early detection is key to achieve this target, alongside scaling up interventions to prevent leprosy transmission," Singh said.
"Addressing the socio-economic needs of affected persons and communities and taking concrete measures to end stigma -- often the reason for late diagnosis -- is vitally important. As long as leprosy transmission and associated disabilities exist, so will stigma and discrimination and vice-versa," she said.
WHO's South-East Asia Region comprises of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.
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