India reported 91,783 new leprosy cases in 2025-26, exceeding the projected 65,000. Childhood infections and disability rates also stayed above targets. While the national prevalence rate remains below one case per 10,000, many districts struggle to stop transmission. Officials now focus on reaching more contacts to help control the disease.

India continues to report more leprosy cases, childhood infections and disability than projected, highlighting the need to interrupt transmissions

India's leprosy programme is falling short of several projections set for 2025-26. The country reported 91,783 new leprosy cases in 2025-26, 41.2% higher than the projected 65,000. New cases among children were 91.6% above the projection while the rate of Grade 2 Disability (G2D) among new cases was 1.34 per million, against a projected one per million.

India's national prevalence rate was 0.56 cases per 10,000 population at the end of March 2026, below the elimination target of a prevalence rate below one case per 10,000.

But the burden remains concentrated geographically. Chhattisgarh had the highest prevalence among States/UTs at 1.66 cases per 10,000 population, followed by Jharkhand (1.51), Chandigarh (1.49), Odisha (1.25) and Maharashtra (1.14).

At the district level, 14.8% of districts had a prevalence rate above one case per 10,000 in 2025-26, down from 18.6% in 2013-14 but 114 districts still remained above the programme's elimination target. Moreover, only 148 districts have provisionally achieved interruption of transmission, against a projected 300.

G2D was also concentrated in a few States/UTs. Chandigarh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha together accounted for 42.5% of the 1,945 G2D cases reported in 2025-26. Chandigarh recorded the highest rate at 13.54 per million, followed by Delhi (11.53) and Chhattisgarh (7.87).

Single-Dose Rifampicin Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (SDR PEP), a preventive dose given to people who have been in contact with a leprosy patient, was administered to 91.2% of the 16.94 lakh eligible contacts in 2025-26, up from 71.4% of the 6.48 lakh in 2019-20.

Source: National Leprosy Eradication Programme (2025-26) and National Strategic Plan and Roadmap for Leprosy 2023-2027