Jakarta, March 11 -- Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin highlighted the need for accelerating leprosy screening and surveillance to eliminate the disease, as Indonesia ranks third globally for leprosy cases, below India and Brazil.

He noted that a few years ago, Indonesia recorded 16,000 leprosy cases. He noted that the country often ranks high for infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis (TB), and emphasized that the key to overcoming them is through screening and surveillance.

"I have integrated this into the Free Health Check (CKG) program; I just reviewed it. I added leprosy screening to the CKG services," he said during the World Leprosy Day commemoration in Jakarta on Wednesday.

According to him, many people are still ashamed t...