About 200, 000 new cases of leprosy reported annually — WHO

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, Japanese Government Goodwill Ambassador for the Human Rights of Persons Affected by Leprosy and Chairman Nippon Foundation Yohei Sasakawa has revealed that despite 1991 World Health Assembly’s (WHA) resolution on elimination of leprosy as a public health problem which was successfully achieved at the global level at the end of year 2000, each year, around 200,000 new cases of leprosy are reported to the WHO.

This was contained in a statement issued to newsmen and signed by Ms Chiemi Sanga of Sasakawa Leprosy (Hansen’s disease) Initiative during the 30th anniversary of WHA’s resolution and WHO’s global Leprosy Strategy 2021-2030.

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According to the statement, Yohei revealed that, In April, the fight against leprosy entered a new phase with the launch by the WHO of “Towards Zero Leprosy: Global Leprosy (Hansen’s disease) Strategy for 2021-2030”.

He explained that the targets include zero leprosy patients in 120 countries and a 70 percent decrease in new cases detected globally by 2030.