Dr. David Addiss has been an essential part of the formation of the Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy and a key advisor. We thank him for his counsel and contributions this month as he moves on to a new project at the Task Force for Global Health.
Over the past several decades, great efforts have been made in controlling leprosy worldwide. However, leprosy remains a challenge in many countries, with South-East Asia bearing the brunt. These countries are all determined to overcome leprosy and its complications. This month we will be highlighting Nepal and showing the steps they are taking towards a leprosy-free region.
The beautiful island country of Maldives is featured this month. Maldives is making great progress towards ending leprosy, with only a small number of new cases per year. Read about the history of leprosy in Maldives, its many activities for treatment and surveillance, and its initiatives to support people with disabilities.
The formal report of the International Task Force on Disease Eradication (ITFDE) meeting on leprosy outlined six important conclusions and recommendations. Its recommendations are a stark reminder of how much is still unknown about the disease, and how much more needs to be done to develop the research, global targets, anti-discrimination initiatives, funding and other tactics necessary for Zero Leprosy. Secretariat Director Courtenay Dusenbury reflects on steps forward in the last year: a research agenda, strategies to work with countries, and partnerships.
The Research Agenda Working Group is nearing completion on its recommendations. It is hoped that the development of the Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy research agenda, through a broad and inclusive process, will help to align the leprosy community (and potential partners and donors) around key research needs and priorities for the future. Resource mobilization and support for the research agenda will be undertaken by the new Advocacy and Resource Mobilization Working Group as a key component of its efforts in 2019.
In time for World Leprosy Day, Mathias Duck discusses how persons affected by leprosy can help empower others affected and improve interventions to reach Zero Leprosy.
Media Statement by Ms. Alice Cruz, UN Special Rapporteur on the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy Vea abajo la versión en español Pour la version en français, voir ci-dessous Para a versão em português, veja abaixo GENEVA (24 January 2019) – Children are among … Read More >
In our new video, Mathias Duck speaks about the extreme forms of discrimination and stigma can take against persons affected by leprosy. Mathias is chair of ILEP’s panel of persons affected by leprosy and a member of the partnership’s Operational Excellence working group.
“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” – Ryunosuke Satoro Less than a year ago the Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy (GPZL) consisted of a steering committee and an outline of a new organization that, it was hoped, could engage the leprosy … Read More >
The Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy officially began in January 2018, just before World Leprosy Day. In one year, we’ve grown to over 400 members, launched two working groups, and have begun the work of creating a research agenda for zero leprosy and tools to … Read More >
Over the past several decades, great efforts have been made in ending leprosy worldwide. However, leprosy control in the South-East Asia Region remains a challenge. These countries are determined to overcome leprosy and its resulting complications. Every month we will be highlighting a new South East Asian country to show the steps they are taking to actively progress towards a leprosy-free world. This month we are looking at the country of Bangladesh.
Read the 2018 issue of The Star, radiating the light of truth on Hansen’s disease. The purpose of The Star is to: 1) Promote an educated public opinion of Hansen’s disease. 2.) Serve as advocate for those who have experienced or been impacted by Hansen’s … Read More >
Managers from national leprosy programmes, along with representatives from ILEP organizations, are directing the upcoming efforts of the Operational Excellence working group. They travelled from afar to participate in the inaugural Operational Excellence meeting, held 6-7 December in Amsterdam.
Managers from national leprosy programmes, along with representatives from ILEP organizations, are directing the upcoming efforts of the Operational Excellence working group. They travelled from Brazil, Benin, Ethiopia, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Nepal and the United Kingdom to participate in the inaugural Operational Excellence meeting, held 6-7 December in Amsterdam. Learn about the meeting discussions and tasks ahead for the working group.
Courtenay Dusenbury and Christine Fenenga of the secretariat team recently spent time in the Galle District of Sri Lanka. See their photos and learn more about the Sri Lanka leprosy programme, the Udugama Hospital’s satellite clinic, and the country’s innovations to track cases and serve its communities.
The leprosy community was well-represented at the recent annual meeting of the Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (COR-NTD), with a sessions on leprosy post-exposure prophylaxis (LPEP) and our Research Agenda Working Group.
Alice Cruz, UN Special Rapporteur, speaks with Courtenay Dusenbury, Secretariat Director, about her UN mandate and how that can align with the partnership’s efforts.
The modus operandi for leprosy control in all the WHO global strategies over the past 3 decades has been detection of all cases and prompt treatment with multidrug therapy (MDT). As the global target has been reached in all but a few countries, the most recent strategy indicates a shift from “elimination of leprosy as a public health problem” to reduction of the disease burden, measured as a reduction in grade-2 disabilities (G2D) among new cases and new cases in children.
ILEP’s Rosa Argent catches up with Christine Fenenga, the Operational Excellence Working Group Coordinator of the Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy.
WHO’s Global Leprosy Programme has released the full Guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of leprosy. The Guidelines provide state-of-the-art knowledge and evidence on leprosy diagnosis, treatment and prevention based on a public health approach in low and middle-income countries. The target audience of this … Read More >