WHO declares Chile the first country in the Americas officially verified as leprosy-free

Geneva.– Chile has become the first country in the Americas to be officially verified as free of leprosy after more than three decades without local cases being declared, as well as the second in the world after Jordan in 2024, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) this Wednesday. The first cases of the disease were recorded in Rapa Nui (Easter Island) at the end of the 19th century and in the continental Chilean territory there were sporadic contagions, the last of them detected in 1993, recalled the UN health agency in a statement. “The elimination of leprosy in Chile sends a clear message to the world, that with sustained commitment, (…) early detection and universal access to health we can make ancestral diseases a thing of the past,” highlighted the WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. According to Chilean Health Minister Ximena Aguilera, the achievement “reflects decades of sustained effort in public health” and reaffirms “the responsibility to maintain active surveillance and guarantee respectful and stigma-free care.” We recommend reading:

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The WHO indicated that between 2012 and 2023 Chile reported 47 cases, although all of them were imported. The milestone demonstrates that “diseases closely linked to groups in vulnerable conditions can be eliminated, contributing to interrupting the vicious cycle between disease and poverty,” highlighted the director of PAHO, Jarbas Barbosa. Leprosy or Hansen’s disease is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium leprae and, in the absence of treatment, can cause permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs, and eyes, which in extreme cases can lead to disability. It is included by the WHO in the list of neglected tropical diseases, cases are still recorded in 120 countries and more than 200,000 new infections are reported each year.