Twenty-seven years ago today, on September 7th, 1998 (July 17th, 1998 in the lunar calendar), the 15th International Leprosy Congress was held in Beijing. On September 7, 1998, the 15th International Leprosy Congress was held in Beijing. President Jiang Zemin wrote an inscription for the conference: "Eliminate leprosy and benefit all mankind". Entrusted by Li Lanqing, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, Zhang Wenkang, Minister of Health, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. Deng Pufang, president of China Disabled Persons' Federation, former and current presidents of the International Leprosy Association, president of the International Leprosy Relief Federation, heads of international organizations such as Japan Foundation, and representatives from 67 countries and regions attended the opening ceremony. The theme of the conference is: Creating a world free of leprosy. This congress is 100 years after the first international leprosy congress held in Berlin, Germany in 1897. The next century beginning with this session will be a new century of complete eradication of leprosy. It is understood that over the past 40 years since the founding of New China, the epidemic of leprosy has been effectively controlled due to comprehensive prevention and control measures, which experts attending the meeting spoke highly of. The number of leprosy patients in China has dropped from 390,000 in 1957 to 4,054 in 1997; The number of newly discovered patients dropped from 35,000 in 1958, the highest year in history, to more than 1,800 in 1997.