ASIA/NEPAL - Despite the fact that leprosy has been officially eliminated in the country, many years are needed to eradicate the disease

Kathmandu (Agenzia Fides) – On January 19, 2010, the government declared to have officially eliminated leprosy in Nepal, after reaching a prevalence of 0.89 per 10,000 people nationwide, but the challenges in the fight to eradicate the disease, according to experts, will still take years. The World Health Organization indicates that the disease is eliminated when there is less than one in 10,000. Leprosy is not only about its eradication, but it also concerns the support for tens of thousands of victims affected by the disease that has made them disabled. The government, together with WHO, provides free treatment and medicines, the NGOs are concerned almost exclusively with the rehabilitation and support of patients and those rendered disabled by the disease. Nepal has fought for years against leprosy, and until last January, was one of the countries, along with East Timor and Brazil, where the disease was on the agenda for public health problems. In 1996, when the government launched its program to control leprosy, according to the Leprosy Control Division (LCD), the Asian country recorded 100,000, 2,445 of whom were in care. Over 80% of all cases of leprosy are in remote areas of the southern region of Terai, where since December 2009, the infection rate is two to three people per 10,000. The government's objective is to eradicate leprosy in five years. The experts say that in areas where the disease is endemic, there is need for greater awareness, particularly among patients who are treated too late. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 20/2/2010)