World Health Organization

2021

Over the past decade the world has made considerable progress in the battle against leprosy, also known as  Hansens`s disease. In 2019, just over 200 000 cases of leprosy were detected from 118 countries globally. Around 5% of cases had visible deformities at the time of diagnosis, equating to 1.4 per million population – a 40% reduction on the 2014 figure. Globally, the new child case detection rate was 7.9 per million children, marking a significant improvement on the 2014 rate of 10.1. Virtually all new cases can now be cured within six to twelve months.