The numbers of children in Guyana who have been diagnosed with leprosy has more than doubled over the course of 2018, according to statistics.
According to a Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) press release, the public health officials here have described this situation as “a serious cause for concern.”
In her feature address at Friday’s launch of the annual World Leprosy Day, held at the Umana Yana, Kingston in Georgetown, Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence disclosed that of the 67 new cases of leprosy, children comprised six per cent of the figure.
Though the total figure of infected persons dipped last year, falling to 49 new cases, the percentage of children infected climbed to 14 and this is troubling, the Public Health Minister said.