Context: World Leprosy Day takes place on the last Sunday of January* worldwide. On World Leprosy Day we raise public awareness of leprosy, including the medical and social implications of the disease and the rights of persons affected. Social media campaigns, community parades, school programming, and cultural events are held around the world in the weeks leading up to World Leprosy Day.

Significance of Leprosy Day

• In India, in the year 2021, the day is being observed on January 30, which is also remembered as the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, father of the nation.

About Leprosy

• Leprosy is also known as Hansen’s disease.
• It is known to occur at all ages ranging from early infancy to very old age.
• It is curable and early treatment averts most disabilities.

Causes

• It is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, a rod-shaped bacillus that is an obligate intracellular (only grows inside of certain human and animal cells) bacterium.

Transmission

• The infection is spread from person to person by nasal secretions or droplets.
• Leprosy is rarely transmitted from chimpanzees, mangabey monkeys, and nine-banded armadillos to humans.

Effects

• The disease develops slowly (from six months to 40 years) and results in skin lesions and deformities.
• It most often affects the cooler places on the body (for example, eyes, nose, earlobes, hands, feet, and testicles).
• The disease is similar to tuberculosis, because it produces inflammatory nodules (granulomas) in the skin and nerves over time.

Leprosy in India

• In 2014, India had the largest number of latest leprosy cases globally.
• India, has reported a decreasing number of new cases for the past years, by nearly 15,000 cases (135,485 in 2016 to 120,334 in 2017–2018) and reduction in new paediatric cases, to less than 10,000 (9227 in 2018).
• Although, a serious hurdle is that the social stigma related to leprosy as well as lots of persons affected by leprosy still be outcast from society.
• The Law Commission has prepared a model draft legislation, titled “Eliminating Discrimination Against Persons affected by leprosy (EDPAL) Bill, 2015”.
• This draft law contains principles of equal protection that must be provided to all persons affected by leprosy or members of their family.

Challenges to tackle Leprosy in India

Operational

• Human resources capacity and motivation
• Programme management capacity and poor infrastructure
• Referral services and linkages
• Coordination and establishment of partnerships
• Empowerment of various stakeholders

Technical

• Continued occurrence of new cases
• Quality of care
• No Early detection of cases
• Poor Laboratory services

Social/economical/cultural

• Difficulty of integrating persons affected by leprosy and their acceptance in the community
• Low knowledge of the population about the disease - changing health-seeking behaviour
• Access to health-care services/leprosy services

Government efforts to eradicate Leprosy

1) National Leprosy Elimination Project

• Early detection through active surveillance by the trained health workers.
• Regular treatment of cases by providing Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT) at fixed in or centres a nearby village of moderate to low endemic areas/district.

2) SPARSH Leprosy Awareness Campaign:

• In order to reduce stigma and discrimination, the Sparsh Leprosy Awareness Campaign (SLAC) was launched on 30th January, 2017.

3) National Leprosy Eradication Programme 2019

• Aims at reducing the disease burden, prevention of disability and to improve awareness among the mass about Leprosy and its curability.