Chinanews, Beijing, Jan. 30 – China plans to improve the living, medical, and recreational conditions of leprosy patients this year by building or rebuilding a batch of special leprosy hospitals or villages with a 220-million-yuan investment.

 

Vice Minister of Health Wang Delong on Sunday (Jan. 28) revealed the above plan while visiting a leprosy village in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province.

 

Wang said leprosy patients have been controlled at a ratio of no more than one out of 100,000 in 90 percent of counties and cities in China. The number of leprosy patients has been reduced to just over 6,000 from around 500,000 in the early days of New China.

 

The Ministry of Health last year outlined a five-year plan for the prevention and treatment of leprosy and called for enhancing efforts to eradicate the disease as early as possible.

 

A special fund has been established in China used for the disease clue research, abnormality prevention, and health education, Wang added.