India misses leprosy targets for 2025-26 with higher case numbers and child infections

India's national leprosy programme is missing several targets set for the 2025-26 period. The country recorded 91,783 new leprosy cases during this time, which is 41.2% higher than the projected count of 65,000. New cases among children were 91.6% above the set projection. The rate of Grade 2 Disability among new cases reached 1.34 per million, compared to a projected one per million.

Geographical Spread

While the national prevalence rate stood at 0.56 cases per 10,000 population at the end of March 2026, the burden is heavily concentrated in specific regions. Chhattisgarh reported the highest prevalence among States and Union Territories at 1.66 cases per 10,000 population. Jharkhand followed with 1.51 cases, Chandigarh with 1.49, Odisha with 1.25, and Maharashtra with 1.14. At the district level, 14.8% of districts had a prevalence rate above one case per 10,000 in 2025-26. This is a drop from 18.6% in 2013-14, but 114 districts remain above the elimination target. Only 148 districts have provisionally achieved the interruption of transmission, falling short of the projected 300.

Disability and Prevention

Grade 2 Disability cases are also clustered in a few parts of the country. Chandigarh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Odisha together accounted for 42.5% of the 1,945 Grade 2 Disability cases reported in 2025-26. Chandigarh recorded the highest rate at 13.54 per million, followed by Delhi at 11.53 and Chhattisgarh at 7.87. On the preventive side, Single-Dose Rifampicin Post-Exposure Prophylaxis was given to 91.2% of the 16.94 lakh eligible contacts in 2025-26, showing an increase from 71.4% of the 6.48 lakh eligible contacts in 2019-20.

Context

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease that affects the skin and peripheral nerves, but it can be cured with multidrug therapy if detected early. Public health programmes rely on early detection, contact tracing, and preventive medicine to break chains of transmission within high-risk districts across the country.