Honourable Minister of Health of Indonesia, Mr. Budi Sadikin
WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, Mr Yohei Sasakawa
Chairman of International Leprosy Association, Dr Narasimha Rao
Chairman of the ILC 2025, Prof Yulianto Listiawan
Partners and colleagues from the scientific community, researchers, health professionals; and,
Persons affected by leprosy from across the globe
Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning to you all, and greetings from the World Health Organization.
The theme of this year’s Congress— “Towards a World with Zero Leprosy”—is an urgent call to action for all us. It aligns with the goal of WHO Global Leprosy Strategy, which envisions a world with zero disease, zero disability, and zero stigma and discrimination.
Since the last Congress in Hyderabad in India, we have achieved significant milestones together.
In 2024, Jordan became the first country to be officially verified and acknowledged by WHO as having eliminated leprosy.
In 2023, Maldives successfully verified interruption of transmission.
Out of the 184 countries and territories which reported to WHO last year, 56 reported zero new leprosy cases.
However, for us elimination is not merely an epidemiological zero. Elimination demands the highest political commitment. It requires ensuring continued care and support for people affected by the disease, and a zero tolerance to stigma and discrimination.
Despite these achievements, our journey is clearly far from over. Each year, nearly 200,000 new leprosy cases are reported from across more than 100 countries. A majority of these remain concentrated in a few high-burden countries.
I am troubled by the knowledge that children continue to be affected by the disease. Let us not forget that leprosy among children shows ongoing transmission and missed opportunities for early detection. Let us be reminded that stigma and discrimination - fuelled by misinformation - remain formidable barriers to healthcare access.
We now face the most challenging phase of our journey. The last mile of disease elimination invariably demands intensified effort and commitment. The remaining cases are often in remote, underserved communities where healthcare infrastructure is limited, and stigma continues to delay diagnosis and treatment. The psychosocial impact of this remains largely unaddressed.
As we all know, the link between leprosy and socio-economic status is undeniable, and I urge greater political will and commitment to address this.
At WHO, we have prioritized three crucial areas that require immediate attention.
The first is enhancing surveillance systems. We must strengthen contact screening and post-exposure prophylaxis and use digital technology to identify and respond to new cases.
Second is deeper community engagement, including greater participation of persons affected by leprosy. This will help address the persistent stigma.
Third, we have to build the capacity of local health workers.
I am pleased to inform you that we at WHO have already started addressing these key areas.
A technical working group has been established to address key gaps in the diagnosis, treatment, and holistic care of children, including psycho-social aspects.
We have developed digital tools to support continuum of care for patients, and tools to support the monitoring of leprosy programmes at various levels in the country. Our technical guidance provides insights into these tools and is available in various languages. We encourage countries to adopt and adapt to these - to monitor, strengthen and revitalize their programmes. In the coming days, my colleagues will tell you more about these tools and our other efforts.
This year WHO celebrates two important partnerships.
For fifty years, the partnership with the Sasakawa Health Foundation has enabled us to provide leprosy services to many countries around the world. And we also mark 25 years of support from Novartis, through their multidrug therapy donations. To both partners, we extend our thanks and gratitude.
In the months and years ahead, we need to forge more partnerships.
We need governments to prioritize leprosy in their national agendas.
We need researchers to develop better diagnostics, shorter treatment regimens, and more effective preventive strategies.
We need civil society to challenge stigma, raise awareness, and ensure affected families are not left behind.
And, above all, we need the active and empowered participation of people affected by leprosy.
Together, may we ensure that no one is left behind.
Thank you, and I wish this Congress great success.