Dr Andy Louhenapessy told newspersons here yesterday that India accounts for an estimated 620,000 cases, with a prevalence rate of 5.3 per 10,000 people.

He said 10 countries -- India, Brazil, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nigeria, Nepal, Mozambique, Madagascar and the Philippines -- were contributing 89 per cent of the global leprosy case-load.

Dr Louhenapessy claimed that WHO's original goal was to reduce the leprosy rate in India to less than one per 10,000 population by the year 2000. However, in view of the vastness of the country, the high endemicity in certain states and the fact that some states introduced multi-drug therapy (MDT) only during the last two or three years.

Dr Louhenapessy said the World Health Assembly in Geneva in May 1991, adopted a resolution to eliminate leprosy as a public health problem by the year 2000, defining elimination as attaininga level of prevalence below one case per 10,000 population.

In the South-East Asian region, 3,150,307 leprosy patients were detected and simultaneously, 9,635,871 were cured with multi-drug treatment from 1982 to 1999. Leprosy is still a major public health problem in the region and is considered a high priority for elimination by the year 2000.

So far only four countries in the region had reached the elimination target: Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand. India and Nepal are likely to achieve the goal by 2002.

In India, the high endemic areas are Orissa, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. These states carry a major share, 82 per cent of the India's leprosy cases.

Speaking on the occasion, Gujarat Minister of State for Health Ashok Bhatt said the phased implementation of MDT in Gujarat had led to a drop in the prevalence rate from 5.4 inhabitants in 1991 to 2.9 in 1998.

He said the total number of cases in Gujarat had declined between1991 and 1998 from 2,2316 to 13,017 cases. There was a gradual decline in prevalence in all of the State's 19 districts, he said.

Bhatt said as far as Gujarat is concerned, leprosy will be eradicated by the end of this year.

The Minister said the State Government has organised a week-long ``reconstructive surgery'' programme from April 7 to 14 in all the districts. Under this programme, nearly 2,000 leprosy patients will be treated for cosmetic surgery by renowned surgeons.