2 out of 10,000 suffer from leprosy in Nepal

Each two out of 10,000 people are found afflicted from leprosy in Nepal, the secretary general of Nepal Leprosy Center (NLC) said Monday.

"At least 5,000 patients of leprosy are undergoing treatment currently, while other 130,000 have been freed from this disease in Nepal," Ram Kumar Shrestha, secretary general of NLC, a non- governmental organization, said at the 35th Central Assembly of the NLC.

Some 179 leprosy-infected people of 257 households facing the social boycott have been rehabilitated by the NLC, said Shrestha.

The NLC has also provided scholarship to some 102 victim children at school level and other 93 students at higher-level education within the current Nepali fiscal year (July 16, 2005 - July 15, 2006).

The educational program has been launched with the assistance of Sasakawa Memorial Health Foundation of Japan and own resources of the NLC, he said.

"The awareness should be created among people about leprosy, as it is the social problem of Nepal," he said.

Source: Xinhua