Dr Mauricio Nobre, Chair, WHO Technical Advisory Group on Leprosy; Technical Advisory Group members, colleagues and friends,
Good morning and welcome to this 19th meeting of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Leprosy (TAG-Leprosy), an age-old disease that must be eliminated in our time, on our watch, based on WHO’s new technical guidance and tools, launched in July.
I extend my utmost gratitude for your service on this body and look forward to your insights on all agenda items, from reviewing trends, guidance and products, to assessing plans for the next biennium. And I urge your particular focus on identifying gaps, challenges and opportunities, especially for new and better diagnostics, chemoprophylaxis and even vaccines.
Let us agree: You have a busy two days.
But at the beginning of this meeting, I want to express my heartfelt thanks for your efforts not only over the course of the COVID-19 crisis, which is no longer a global health emergency, but over the past 10 years, when together we have made tremendous progress to accelerate towards a leprosy-free world.
Between 2013 and 2022, the number of countries globally reporting annual leprosy data increased from 102 to 182.
The number of new cases reported globally decreased by 19.3%, with a 6% reduction up to 2019, which we can be confident reflects actual reductions in leprosy transmission.
Over the same period, the WHO South-East Asia Region reduced grade-2 disabilities (G2D) among new leprosy cases by more than 50%, from almost 8000 in 2013 to below 3800 in 2022.
In 2016, WHO launched an ambitious yet achievable Global Leprosy Strategy, which by 2020, had helped 88 countries globally reach zero G2D among new child cases, compared to just 39 countries in 2015.
Remarkably, between 2015 and 2020, the global rate of G2D among new cases fell from about 2.5 per million population to 1.6 per million – a stellar achievement.
Today, around 95% of leprosy cases are reported from just 23 global priority countries. Just three countries globally account for more than 75% of all new cases.
Over the past five years, more than 30 countries globally have reported zero new cases and 14 countries have reported zero child cases.
This is why our new Global Leprosy Strategy 2022–2030 aims for at least 120 countries to achieve zero autochthonous cases by 2030, and for the number of new cases globally to be reduced to about 63 000. By the same date, the rate of new G2D cases should be reduced to 0.12 per million population, and the detection of new child cases to 0.77 per million population.
Indeed, we so often speak about the dramatic reductions achieved following the introduction of multi-drug therapy, which by the turn of the millennium, enabled the world to eliminate leprosy as a public health problem.
But let us also appreciate this decade’s progress and consider the game-changing reductions that can be achieved through the provision of single-dose rifampicin for post-exposure prophylaxis – a development that if effectively applied, could see us eliminate leprosy altogether.
Chair, TAG-Leprosy members,
Over the course of this meeting, I urge you:
First, to review and finalize the elimination dossier tool, which will enable countries to be verified for interrupting transmission and eliminating leprosy disease, as per WHO’s new thresholds and cut-offs.
Second, to define the scope and scale of post-elimination surveillance, which will facilitate rapid action in the event of a resurgence in cases.
Third, to provide concrete recommendations on strengthening laboratory services for antimicrobial resistance surveillance in leprosy, which will complement our soon-to-be-launched online training modules on the openWHO platform.
Fourth, to provide action-oriented guidance on addressing childhood leprosy specifically, especially to reduce G2D among new child cases.
Fifth, to develop clear recommendations on how countries can strengthen integrated disability care for people with leprosy, as well as psychological first aid and counselling, to enable their full participation in socio-economic life.
And sixth, to identify clear and actionable ways to promote research in leprosy, especially for new diagnostics and drugs, including shorter treatment regimens, as well as vaccines and other preventive tools and approaches.
In each of these areas, I look forward to your valuable insight, experience and expertise, fully cognizant of the need to close remaining gaps, leftover from the COVID-19 crisis, and to apply new innovations for accelerated success.
Because let us agree: Today, achieving a world with zero leprosy disease, zero leprosy disability, and zero leprosy stigma and discrimination is within our grasp.
Together, let us eliminate this age-old disease in our time, on our watch.
I once again thank all TAG-Leprosy members and wish you ongoing, accelerated success.
Thank you.