Nigerians affected by leprosy yearly’

No fewer than 3,500 Nigerians are affected by leprosy annually in the country with about 25 per cent having some degrees of disability, says The Leprosy Mission of Nigeria.

Operations Manager in charge of the Mission, Mr. Pius Ogbu, told journalists on Monday at a press briefing marking the Mission’s Policy Makers Workshop in Minna that the disease was mostly common in  poverty-stricken.

He said, “We have discovered that the number of persons affected annually by the disease in Nigeria is over 3,500 with about 25 per cent of the patients having some degree of disability.

“The stigma and discrimination against these people in the country are very high due to the myth and suspicion associated with the disease.

“Every new case of persons affected by the disease and discovered was diagnosed for possible treatment with the mission’s support and care especially as the disease was mostly common in places of poverty, dirty water, poor nutrition and low standard of living.”

He added that the mission had earmarked N50m for the execution of its projects in Niger State for the next three years.

“The mission will spend N11m out of the said amount this year on some of its activities which had already commenced in the state, while N20m will be expended in 2014,with the remaining N19m set aside for use in 2015,” he said.

The operations manager told our correspondent that the project was aimed at addressing the discrimination, stigma, exclusion and human rights abuses due to leprosy disease, as well as to improve the quality of lives of persons affected by the disease in four local government areas of Niger State.