Why it is in the news
On 7 October 2026, an editorial in The Hindu, drawing on the 2025-26 report of the National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP), warned that continuing transmission of leprosy in many pockets threatens the targets of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) and Roadmap for Leprosy 2023–2027. It called for interruption of transmission, rather than falling prevalence, to be treated as the real test of progress.
The exam angle
Issue: India met the prevalence-based elimination goal two decades ago, yet transmission, child cases and disability persist, putting the 2027 zero-transmission goal at risk.