Question : ELIMINATION OF LEPROSY

(a) whether despite of the efforts made, India is still far behind its neighbouring countries in eliminating leprosy;

(b) if so, whether other South-East Asian countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and Nepal too are ahead of India in their efforts of eradicating the dreaded disease;

(c) if so, the Government have fixed any target date by which the leprosy is to be eradicated;

(d) the main problems being faced by the Government in surfacing of hidden cases particularly in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand;

(e) whether there has been a decline in leprosy cases in other endemic States in the country; and

(f) if so, the details thereof?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI A. RAJA)

(a) & (b) : The information as received from South East Asia Regional Office of WHO at New Delhi, indicates that as in October, 2001, India had leprosy prevalence rate (per 10,000 population) of 3.79 as against 3.40 in Nepal and 2.37 in Mayanmar whereas remaining South East Asian countries have achieved prevalence rate of less than one case per 10,000 population.


(c) : The Government of India has a goal of achieving elimination of leprosy i.e. Prevalence Rate less than of 1/10,000 by March, 2004.

(d) : These two States are having large tribal population living in forests and difficult to reach areas.

(e) & (f) : Yes, Sir. The details are given at Annexure- 1. In 2000-01, Modified Leprosy Elimination Campaign (MLEC) was not carried out in the country. Hence, the PR for 2000- 01 is lower than 2001-02.


Annexure-I

Prevalence Rate of Leprosy/10,000 Population in the Endemic States At the beginning of World Bank Supported National Leprosy Eradication Programme and Current Position

S.No. States	1993-94	2001-2002 (As on March, 02)
1. West Bengal	21.27	4.48

2. Orissa	21.19	9.26

3. Bihar	20.92	12.77

4. Madhya Pradesh	11.79	2.58

5. Andhra Pradesh	11.45	3.61
6. Uttar Pradesh	10.58	6.19

7 Maharashtra	10.18	3.56

8. Tamil Nadu	9.30	4.34

9. Karnataka	5.17	2.57
10. Jharkhand	Not Applicable	15.05
11. Chhattisgarh	Not Applicable	11.55