24/1/2003

50th World Leprosy Day on 26 January 2003 – A view from Pakistan Photos by Akhtar Soomro at a Leprosy Centre in Karachi (Click on photos to enlarge)

There are an estimated 20,000 leprosy cases still in Pakistan and 12,000 people already disabled remain in need of care. So stated Dr Ruth Pfau, MD, of the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre, Karachi, at a Press briefing on Tuesday 21 January at the Karachi Press Club.

All photos ©Akhtar Soomro

Every year ,World Leprosy Day is celebrated all over the world on the last Sunday of January. The object is to bring about feelings of solidarity and love for the lepers who are still treated as outcasts in our society. This year we are celebrating the 50th World Leprosy Day - Our Golden Jubilee year.

Leprosy is widely regarded as a curse because of its power to deform faces and bodies. In Pakistan, about 5,500 persons still require some form of rehabilitation and improvement of their treatment. This also means maintaining the quality of services for the detection and treatment of new cases, said Dr Ruth Pfau.

After achieving the target of bringing Leprosy under control in 1996, the Pakistani National Leprosy Control Programme has moved into its second phase of freeing the country from Leprosy altogether. The World Health Organization has declared the disease to be under control in Pakistan, one of the first countries in Asia to achieve this goal.