Context:

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared "Jordan" as the world's 'first country' to be "leprosy free".
• According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Jordan has not recorded any case of leprosy for more than two decades.

Leprosy:

• Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, is an infectious and chronic disease.
• It is caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis.
• This disease affects the skin, eyes, nerves, and mucous membranes.

Symptoms:

• Bumps, swelling, redness, and sores on the skin
• Muscle weakness
• Soreness on the lower legs
• Loss of vision or blindness
• Swollen lymph nodes, etc.

Spread :

• It can spread from one person to another through droplets expelled from the nose and mouth of an infected person.

Treatment:

• Leprosy is a curable disease.
• The currently recommended treatment consists of three drugs, dapsone, rifampicin and clofazimine.
• This combination is called multi-drug therapy (MDT).

In the Indian context:

• The Government of India launched the National Strategic Plan (NSP) and Roadmap (2023-27) for Leprosy on January 30, 2023.
• Objective: Eliminate leprosy by 2027 {three years ahead of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.3}
• SDG 3.3 aims to prevent epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and address hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases by 2030.
• India has achieved elimination of leprosy as a public health problem in 2005 as per the World Health Organization criteria of less than 1 case per 10,000 population at the national level.

Related Major National Other Initiatives:

• National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP): 1983
• Sparsh Leprosy Awareness Campaign (SLAC) 30 January 2017

Leprosy Day:

• In India: 30 January (Death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi)
• In the world: Last Sunday of January

Jordan:

• Location: In the Southern Levant region of Western Asia
• Borders: Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories to the west
• Capital: Amman
• Currency: Jordanian dinar (JOD)

World Health Organization (WHO):

• Founded: 1948
• Headquarters: Switzerland, Geneva
• Indian Headquarters: Delhi
• Main Reports: World Tuberculosis Report, Ambient Air Pollution Report