World Leprosy Day

Jan 29 – World Leprosy Day. Observed since 1953, a day to bring awareness to this misunderstood but curable disease. More than 225,000 new cases of Hansen’s Disease are reported each year— usually among the poorest of the poor. In 1991, the World Health Organization passed a resolution to eliminate leprosy and there have been dramatic results worldwide. Annually, on the last Sunday in January (also observed on Jan 30). The timing of the observance is in remembrance of Mohandas Gandhi, assassinated on Jan 30, 1948, who cared for leprosy patients and sought its end.