Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi called for a collective effort to completely eliminate the ‘treatable disease’ of leprosy from India.
The Prime Minister recalled that Mahatma Gandhi had an enduring concern for people afflicted with leprosy.
His vision was not just to treat them, but also to mainstream them into our society, he added.
The Prime Minister said that the effort to eliminate leprosy from this country under the National Leprosy Eradication Programme was launched way back in 1955.
He noted that the goal of leprosy elimination as a public health problem i.e., prevalence rate of less than 1 case per 10,000 population at national level was achieved in 2005.
He said that although the case detection rate thereafter has marginally decreased, visible deformity at the time of diagnosis has increased.
A three-pronged strategy for early detection of leprosy cases is under the national health mission in 2016.
A special Leprosy Case Detection Campaign was carried out in 2016.
