Leprosy patients in India and Nepal will continue to be treated with
medicines supplied free by the pharmaceuticals company Novartis.
The
free drugs agreement between the company and the World Health
Organization, due initially to run from 2000 to 2005, has been extended
to 2010. The drugs to be provided are valued at up to $24.5million
(£14m) and will be distributed to nine countries altogether.
Novartis
says progress made to eliminate leprosy worldwide is promising. At the
beginning of this year the number of registered cases was 286,000,
about 38 per cent fewer than at the start of 2004. The number of new
cases last year was also 21 per cent lower than in 2003.
The improvement is said to be due largely to better services and the
integration of leprosy treatment into the general health system, making
a multi-drug therapy developed by Novartis available even in remote
areas.
Since 1985 more than 14 million have been cured by the therapy.
Dr Daniel Vasella, chairman and chief executive of Novartis, said: ‘We
are reaffirming our commitment to helping patients with leprosy and
helping to eliminate this disease as a public health problem. The
progress made to date in this partnership is evidence of the benefits
of this public-private partnership, and gives us motivation in our
fight against other endemic diseases in the developing world.’
The
other countries where leprosy remains a public health problem are
Angola, Brazil, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzania.
