World Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) Day 2026

25 January 2026

World Leprosy Day is observed on the last Sunday of January, every year. In 2026, the World Leprosy Day is on 25 January. This international day is an opportunity to celebrate people who have experienced leprosy, raise awareness of the disease, and call for an end to leprosy-related stigma and discrimination.

The theme for World Leprosy Day 2026 is "Leprosy is curable, the real challenge is stigma". The theme is a call to action aiming to raise awareness of leprosy, highlight the challenges faced by persons affected by leprosy, and inspire collaborative action to eliminate leprosy.

Leprosy stigma is consistently raised by persons affected by leprosy as one of their most significant challenges.

• Stigma affects daily lives
• Stigma causes people to lose their jobs
• Stigma means people are forced to leave their homes
• Stigma is the reason people are turned away from family and community life
• Stigma keeps children from attending school

Stigma does all of this and so much more. And, as one person affected by leprosy put it, ‘this happens not because people are mean, but because they don’t understand.’ Stigma exists because too many people believe leprosy is highly contagious, that there is no cure, that it is caused by sin or curses. These misconceptions colour the way that people are treated when they are diagnosed with the disease. Depending on the level of stigma in a family or a community, this can be devastating.

Leprosy is cured with simple and free antibiotic treatment. If that happens early, there will be no complications for patients and we will cut leprosy transmission, but stigma stands in the way of that too. Many people see the stigma that leprosy causes and they choose to hide their symptoms, praying that no one will notice so they don’t have to face this discrimination. Their fear prevents them from coming forward for treatment, leading to long-term complications and ongoing leprosy transmission.

So now you see: leprosy is curable, the real challenge is stigma.

The campaign can also leverage the momentum of World NTD Day to raise awareness of leprosy as a neglected tropical disease and garner additional support.

#WorldLeprosyDay   #UniteActEliminateLeprosy   #UniteActEliminate   #LeprosyStillExists    #EndStigma   #ActNow   #ZeroDiscrimination