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NEWS - WHO in drive to eliminate le



Subject: NEWS - WHO in drive to eliminate leprosy

WHO in drive to eliminate leprosy

  
ZURICH, Nov 15 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on
Monday it was creating a global alliance aimed at virtually eliminating
leprosy from every country in the world by the end of 2005. 

The effort is aimed at detecting and curing an estimated 2.5 million to
2.8 million remaining sufferers of the disease. Over 10 million people
have been cured in the past 15 years. 

Core members of the alliance include the WHO and countries with a high
incidence of leprosy, as well as Swiss pharmaceuticals group Novartis
AG, the Nippon Foundation and the International Federation of
Anti-Leprosy Associations (ILEP). 

The alliance will also cooperate with non-governmental organisations,
including the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) and the
World Bank. 

The ILEP, a grouping of 19 non-government organisations, pledged $19.5
million of their $65 million annual budget to the effort, the WHO said
in a statement. 

Novartis said it had promised about $30 million to the alliance and will
make additional resources available to help in the final push to
eradicate the disease. 

A spokesman for Novartis said the company would also provide support for
field clinics. 

Even with such efforts, leprosy will still not be completely wiped out,
but the alliance aimed to reduce the disease to less than one case per
10,000 people in every country. 

The current ratio in countries where leprosy is widespread, which
accounts for 90 percent of cases, is over 4.5 times the target. 

Countries with the most afflicted are Angola, Brazil, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Madagascar,
Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal and Niger. 

07:50 11-15-99