Nagpur, Nov 16: A committed political leadership can completely wipe out leprosy in India as the disease is curable and its treatment is available free of cost, World Health Organisation (WHO) special ambassador and president of Japan's Nippon Foundationin Yohei Sasakawa has said.
"A majority (70 per cent) of leprosy patients of the world live in India alone. But the incidence of these cases can be brought down to an estimated one patient per 10,000 population by 2005 as per WHO recommendations," Sasakawa told reporters here last night.
Although India has achieved some success in reducing the prevalence of leprosy to a large extent, it is still to meet the international and who objectives, he said after visiting the leprosy foundation, set up by Mahatma Gandhi, in adjoining Wardha district.
The Nippon Foundation, one of the biggest NGOs in Japan, has been extending assistance to India for providing drugs and 50 per cent of its drugs are routed to India through who.
As per September, 2003 statistics, leprosy was 2.7 in 10,000 which was brought down from 57.6 among 10,000 in the year 1981. It is prevalent mostly in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, where the ratio was quite high.
"Japan is now leprosy free," Sasakawa claimed adding only 30,000 cases were reported in 1900 and now no fresh case has been detected.
Bureau Report