India recorded 3,832 new leprosy cases among children in 2025-26, including 37 children who were diagnosed with Grade-2 disability (G2D). The figures are significantly above the National Leprosy Eradication Programme’s (NLEP) target of 2,000 child cases for the year.
Grade-2 disability at diagnosis is considered a marker of delayed detection, as it indicates that the disease has progressed before it was identified. New cases among children are also used as an indicator of recent transmission, although a child’s diagnosis alone cannot establish exactly when or where the infection occurred.
The latest figures come as India works towards the National Strategic Plan and Roadmap for Leprosy 2023-27. The programme aims to interrupt transmission at the district level by 2027. Under the roadmap, a district is considered to have interrupted transmission after recording zero new indigenous child cases for five consecutive years.
India detected 91,783 new leprosy cases during the 2025-26 reporting period. The national Grade-2 disability rate among newly detected cases was 1.34 per million, above the NLEP target of less than one case per million.
The government programme focuses on active case detection, contact tracing, targeted campaigns and surveillance to identify cases earlier. It also provides free diagnosis, multidrug therapy and disability-prevention services through public health facilities.
The continued detection of leprosy among children, including cases with disability at diagnosis, highlights the importance of early detection and sustained surveillance as India works towards its 2027 transmission-interruption goal.

AdvertisementThe Puranic