Global Alliance Meets on Elimination of Leprosy

Brasilia, January 30, 2002 (PAHO) - There is a growing international consensus on the steps needed to eliminate the pain and social stigma of leprosy, but a high level of political and social commitment is still needed to cure those infected with this disease in countries where leprosy continues to be a serious public health problem.

That is the message from all partners in the Global Alliance for the Elimination of Leprosy (GAEL) at their annual meeting in Brasilia, capital city of Brazil - one of six countries where leprosy remains a major public health issue. The others are India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar and Nepal.

''I am confident that we will succeed in reaching our goal of elimination at the national level during the next four years," said Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization, in an opening address to the meeting. "No human being should have to suffer the stigma, deformity and disability wrought by this easily curable disease.

Eliminating leprosy in all countries is now an attainable goal by the year 2005, according to international health specialists addressing the conference at the Pan American Health Organization/ World Health Organization headquarters in Brasilia on Wednesday.

Brazil is fully committed to this goal, said Dr. Claudio Duarte, Special Adviser to the Ministry of Health. "With a final push, we can certainly eliminate this disease by 2005," said Dr. Duarte. "We now have to focus on populations which are most at risk." Brazil has now taken over the chair of GAEL from India, which has chaired the Alliance since its creation two years ago.

One key partner in the Global Alliance is The Nippon Foundation. The Foundation's President, Mr. Yohei Sasakawa, used the occasion of this meeting to pledge continuing support to WHO and the Global Alliance in the fight against leprosy. Today, leprosy is recognized in every country as a curable disease. A new combination of drugs known as "multi-drug therapy" (MDT) is used to treat and completely cure patients. These drugs are donated free of charge to all patients through WHO by Novartis AG and its Foundation. Since these donations began in 2000, more than 16 million of the "blister packs," each of which provides one month's treatment to one patient, have been shipped.

Leprosy is now completely curable, but has caused terrible suffering to its victims for hundreds of years. Until the last decades of the 20th century, leprosy patients were routinely driven from their homes and forced to live in isolated leprosariums.

Ten years ago, Member States of the World Health Organization committed to eliminate leprosy as a public health problem. In global terms, that has been achieved and more than 11 million people have been completely cured of leprosy.

The challenge now is to reproduce that achievement in every country. "The world will judge us if, with all the tools available to us, we fail to win this battle," said Dr. Maria Neira, Director of Communicable Disease Control, Prevention and Eradication at the WHO.

The challenge to all countries where leprosy exists is twofold: first, to inform people that leprosy is no different from any other infectious disease. It is easily treatable and the treatment leads to a complete cure. Second, to ensure that diagnosis and treatment are easily available at all health centers.

A final push to spread information and treatment to every corner of every country where leprosy continues to be a public health problem will eliminate leprosy and bring an end to the centuries of suffering it has caused.

FACTS AND FIGURES

The latest available information indicates that at the end of 2000, there were approximately 600,000 leprosy cases registered for treatment across the world.

Within that total, more than 380,000 cases (more than 60 per cent of the total) were in India and almost 78,000 (13 per cent of the total) in Brazil.

Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar and Nepal also continue to have a high burden of leprosy.

PAHO, which was founded in 1902, works to improve health and raise living standards in all the countries of the Americas. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization.