India recorded 3,832 new leprosy cases among children in 2025-26, including 37 who already had Grade-2 disability at diagnosis, according to the latest National Leprosy Eradication Programme annual report.

The child caseload was 91.6 per cent higher than the NLEP's target of 2,000 cases for the year. The World Health Organization cites new child cases as an indicator of recent transmission, and Grade-2 disability at diagnosis points to delayed detection.

The figures arrive as India pursues the National Strategic Plan for Leprosy 2023-27, which seeks to interrupt transmission at the district level by 2027. Under the roadmap, a district is considered to have interrupted transmission after reporting zero new indigenous child cases for five consecutive years.

Contact tracing is done and post-exposure prophylaxis is administered to eligible contacts to interrupt the chain of transmission. Leprosy screening has been integrated with Ayushman Bharat for people above 30 years and with the RBSK and RKSK programmes for children up to 18.

India attained national leprosy elimination status, a prevalence rate below one per 10,000, in 2005 and has sustained it since. A new treatment regimen and the revamped Nikusth 2.0 portal are among the measures supporting the 2027 goal.