Anti-leprosy day 30th January

The martyrdom day of Mahatma Gandhi (30th January) is observed as Anti-leprosy day throughout the world. It is also called "International Anti-leprosy day".
Mahatma Gandhi's cherished dream of a leprosy-eliminated India has come true. Thanks to the support of the various NGOs, national and international bodies along with the Government machinery, the number of leprosy cases has come down from 40 lakhs in 1982 to less than 1 lakh today. Since the Prevalance Rate has come down to less than 1 per 10,000 population in India, the govt. has declared that leprosy has been eliminated.
Leprosy is completely curable today. An air-borne disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, leprosy was a scourge to humanity and it had a lot of misconceptions. Leprosy is a socio-medical problem. Though the number of leprosy cases has come down, the stigma still prevails. A lot need to be done with regard to rehabilitation of persons affected with leprosy (PALs).
India as eliminated leprosy but still we have to eradicate the disease from our country which would be possible by increasing the awareness regarding the // transmission of the bacteria and the treatment regimen to be followed for treating the disease.
World Health Organization is playing a great role in eradication of Leprosy through its free worldwide distribution of Multi-drug Treatment drugs, which is supplied as blister drug packets to India.

Dr Marwah