Nearly 3m people have the disease and millions of others will carry its scars for the rest of their lives, although it can now be cured completely with a combination of drugs.

In November last year, the International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations (ILEP) and the World Health Organisation helped launch a new international effort to fight leprosy.

The Global Alliance for the Elimination of Leprosy brings together governments, drug companies and health agencies.

Over the next six years, it aims to reduce the number of new cases in countries where leprosy is endemic to one or less per 10,000 of population, and to find and cure the world's remaining leprosy patients.

Leprosy is a serious public health threat in 24 countries including Brazil, Madagascar, Angola and Nepal.

However, the greatest burden of the disease is borne by India, with more than 500,000 new cases a year.

Professor Cairns Smith, ILEP medical advisor, said: "Most of these cases tend to come from areas that are poorer, that are less advantaged in terms of social and economic circumstances and perhaps also have the weakest healthcare infrastructure.

"And certainly the national programme in India over the last few years has really been working very hard to improve the coverage of the leprosy programme, to redress that.".

Angelo Simonazzi , secretary-general of the ILEP, says another challenge is to convince people who may be infected to go to a clinic in the first place.

"If you think you've got leprosy, you're not going to the clinic, because you fear that somebody - the doctor or the health worker will tell you you've got leprosy, and you will be stigmatised by your family or the community.

"We need to educate and publicise the facts about leprosy, that it is a curable disease, that it is not so easy to get, and therefore there should be no exclusion for people affected by leprosy."