Good morning.
On behalf of the World Health Organization, I would like to welcome you all to this meeting on the development of action plans towards interruption of transmission and elimination of leprosy disease in the Region of the Americas.
As you are aware, together, we have made significant progress in reducing the leprosy burden in the Americas region as well globally. This was particularly so after the introduction of Multidrug Therapy and the subsequent World Health Assembly resolution to eliminate leprosy as a public health problem. By 2000, the registered prevalence dropped by 86%.
In 2022, out of of 183 Member States that notified WHO, 54 reported zero new cases and 17 reported zero child cases for 5 consecutive years. These countries can be considered for verification of interruption of transmission.
In 2023, WHO released the technical guidance on the interruption of transmission and elimination of leprosy disease. The Leprosy Elimination Framework defines a clear pathway for national programmes through three phases, along with relevant epidemiological cut-offs and milestones for each of these phases. The phases are
- interruption of transmission
- elimination of leprosy disease, and
- post-élimination surveillance,
I am very pleased to let you know that Maldives, from the South-East Asia Region, became the first country in the world to achieve “Interruption of transmission” in October 2023. Also, Jordon, from the Eastern Mediterranean Region, is the first country to be verified by WHO for having achieved “Elimination of leprosy disease” in May 2024.
Even in high-burden countries, we see that many districts, provinces and states are consistently not reporting any new cases.
I am sure there are many countries close to these milestones, including in the Americas.
As you may know, this meeting is co-organized by WHO GLP and WHO AMRO. It provides an opportunity for the national program managers of participating countries in the Region which are close to elimination, to share their experiences and common challenges faced in moving towards the elimination. The meeting will also provide an opportunity for countries to have hands-on training on new tools which have been developed recently by the WHO.
However, we know from experience that last-mile challenges are often the most difficult to overcome, due primarily to increased complacency, and the reluctance of countries and stakeholders to sustain leprosy funding.
We have other lingering challenges. In the recent past, detection has stagnated. Despite this, nearly 200 000 cases have been detected annually, and twenty-three Global priority countries account for over 95% of them. From this Region, Brazil is a part of this global priority country list.
The ‘Global leprosy strategy 2021-2030,’ also known as “Towards Zero Leprosy,” was developed in-line with the ‘Roadmap for neglected tropical diseases 2021–2030’. It aims to reach Zero leprosy - in other words, zero infection, zero disability, and zero stigma and discrimination.
It is imperative that the countries in the region move faster to develop action plans to accelerate implementation of the Global Leprosy Strategy 2021-2030. They must work towards interruption of transmission, and elimination of leprosy disease, while being cognizant of their local epidemiological and programmatic situations.
The WHO, at the country and regional level, through the Global Leprosy Programme will provide all the necessary coordinated support to all your efforts.
On that note, I would like to end by wishing you the best for this meeting. I trust you will have meaningful and productive deliberation, and I look forward to being appraised of the outcomes.
Thank you.