Sylhet tea pickers have world's highest rate of leprosy

The tea plantations in Sylhet, which predominantly employ women from minority groups, have the highest rate of leprosy globally, says The Guardian citing The Leprosy Mission.

The charity, which operates in 10 countries in Africa and Asia, found up to 15 cases of leprosy per 10,000 people in the region, while the rest of the country had less than one case per 10,000 people. Most families living there have someone infected with the disease.

"In the tea estates of Sylhet, leprosy has been spreading much faster than our team has ever seen," says Dr Benjamin Rozario, the resident medical officer for the mission in Bangladesh.

Leprosy is a chronic bacterial infection caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae that primarily affects the skin, nerves, and respiratory tract. It can lead to disfiguring skin sores, nerve damage, and loss of limbs.

Tea pickers living in crowded conditions in basic homes on the plantations are highly susceptible to leprosy, which is spread through moisture droplets in the air and compounded by the lack of proper food, sanitation, and healthcare facilities.

While drugs can stop the disease from progressing, they cannot reverse disability.

Despite the World Health Organization declaring leprosy eliminated in Bangladesh in 1998, which meant the country had fewer than one case for 10,000 people, it still has the fifth-highest number of leprosy cases in the world, according to the WHO.

"Since the WHO declared leprosy eliminated in Bangladesh, there has been a significant lack of funding and resources to address the issue, which still very much exists," says Fazlur Rahman, mayor of Moulvibazar district in Sylhet.

Bangladesh pledged to eliminate the disease by 2030, however, during a visit to the country in February, the UN's special rapporteur on ending discrimination against people with leprosy, Alice Cruz, said that goal would not be achieved without more funding and action.

"I am concerned that the state administration is failing to implement this promise. Adequate budget allocation with clear targets, indicators and benchmarks is essential to turn the government's pledges into reality," Cruz said.

Despite efforts, poor working environment, lack of sanitation, poor quality of food, and low pay remain significant obstacles in the fight against the disease.