Leprosy today

250,000?

The World Health Organisation or WHO, as it is generally called, publishes statistics for registered cases. At the beginning of 2008 they numbered 212,802. In the course of 2007 a total of 254,525 cases were detected.. Obviously, these figures relate only to cases detected and known about. The real situation may be different to a greater or lesser extent, depending upon the country or the region.

Drastic fall

The number of sick persons registered throughout the world has fallen very considerably over the last twenty years. After all, in 1985, the figure was still 5,351,408. Currently, the WHO takes the view that leprosy is no longer a public health problem in all but nine countries. We define a public health problem as being a prevalence of sick persons registered for treatment in the proportion of at least one case per 10,000 inhabitants. Six of the nine countries involved are in Africa while two are in Southeast Asia and one in Latin America. This drop is due essentially to a huge reduction in the time treatment takes, together with a change of definition. We take into account these days only of persons needing chemotherapy. Cleaning of registers also contribute to lower prevalence figures.

14 million cures

The number of newly detected cases is considerably more stable. For twenty years or so it has been between 500,000 and 600,000 new cases each year. In the course of 1998 there was a peak of 800,000 newly detected cases. It was due mainly to the massive campaigns launched in a number of countries. Since 1985, more than fourteen million patients have been cured all over the world with the help of polychemotherapy. The actual incidence of leprosy seems to be retreating slowly in certain countries. In others, there is no net decline to be seen. Unfortunately, significant numbers of new cases are going to be appearing for many years to come.