-TheWire.in Under pressure to eliminate Leprosy, the government is unwilling to record new cases. Social stigma and failure to detect cases early are hurdles in eradicating the disease. New Delhi: Leprosy is back in India. Health officials and activists celebrated 13 years ago when India announced that Leprosy had been eliminated as a public health concern. Alarm bells rang as the Central Leprosy Division of the health ministry reported that 135,485 new...

-The Times of India blog Apparently, we should be proud that India has the highest statue in the world – taller than anything the US and China possess. Poor Sardar Patel – his memory invoked in such a schoolboy way. A giant leader, with all his strengths and weaknesses, represented by a monstrous metal emblem of rising India. As we think about the tallest statue in the world, we should also remember...

-The Indian Express Rising cases of Leprosy among Adivasis call for urgent public action. India officially eliminated Leprosy in 2005 by bringing the Prevalence Rate below 1/10000 at the national level. However, the National Health Policy 2017 (NHP), which will guide the health policy direction of the country over the next decade or so, still has elimination of Leprosy as a national level target. It is highly unlikely that India achieves elimination...

-The Hindu There are 119 laws that discriminate against persons affected by Leprosy: plea The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre and all States to remove references to Leprosy as a disability from statute books, saying Leprosy is curable and patients should not be victims of social stigma. Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, heading a three-judge Bench, said references to Leprosy as a disability in the written laws amounted to “statutory...

-TheWire.in Maharashtra cannot retain its position as a progressive state if health budget cuts become a characteristic part of its budgets. Massive budget cuts and budget under-spending in the social sector have been reported from Maharashtra over the last two years. The state spent as less as 0.49% of its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) on the public health sector in 2017-18. Incidentally, the state also witnessed high malnourishment, rising Leprosy cases,...