Beijing, Oct 1 (IANS) China plans to decrease leprosy cases by 50 percent by 2020, authorities said.
The prevalence rate is targeted to be brought down to one case per 10,000 people by 2015, according to a joint plan to fight the infectious disease issued by the health ministry.
The rate will further shrink to one in every 100,000 people by 2020 in at least 98 percent of the country’s counties, reported Xinhua.
A total of 500,000 cases of leprosy have been reported and treated for free throughout the country since 1949.
The number of leprosy cases has come down over the past 62 years, but the country still faces challenges in fighting the disease, the plan said.
