10 October 2023 · Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy

Adoption of new global strategy

At a three-day meeting in India, completed on 9 October, the GPZL Leadership Team had an intensive discussion on future strategy, facilitated by Dr Pemmaraju Rao, formerly of the WHO Global Leprosy Programme.

The Leadership Team affirmed GPZL’s long-term vision:
Zero leprosy: zero infection and disease, zero disability, zero stigma and discrimination.

Alongside the vision, it affirmed GPZL’s value proposition:
GPZL convenes stakeholders, links expertise, empowers and leverages the collective strengths of our members towards the ultimate goal of zero leprosy.

Setting a medium-term strategy involved strategic choices. The Leadership Team agreed to focus its attention during the coming three years primarily on the interruption of leprosy transmission. This intensified focus is closely aligned with WHO Global Leprosy Strategy and also with WHO’s recently published Leprosy Elimination Framework. The Leadership Team adopted three strategic objectives for 2024-2026:

• Facilitate the implementation and scaling-up of existing and new tools to interrupt transmission.
• Align and accelerate research with a focus on zero transmission.
• Prioritise people and their rights in our zero leprosy efforts.

Detailed strategies are being worked on and will be finalised when the Leadership Team meets in December.