The Health Ministry will allocate more funds, trained human resources and other resources to control the two diseases, Minister of Health Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said. He said the objective is to lower the disease prevalence in five years.

The Minister said 1,748 new leprosy patients were detected in Sri Lanka by November last year and out of that 42 percent or 738 patients were from the Western Province while 338 patients were from the Colombo district. During the past decade, 2,000 new Leprosy patients were reported from Sri Lanka annually," he said.

Dr. Senaratne said in eight high risk districts, there are eight leprosy patients for every 100,000 persons and Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa and Ampara districts are among them.

At present Sri Lanka is classified as a country with a low prevalence of HIV infection. Over 150 people were detected with HIV/AIDS last year and majority of patients were between the age group of 25 to 45. Over 228 people were diagnosed with HIV AIDS in Sri Lanka in 2014.

The Health Ministry said that the spread of the disease was due to the tourism industry, use of drugs, homosexual behavior, and immigration.