UK-based charity, Lepra has been at the forefront of treatment, care, support, and research of leprosy for the last 99 years.
Over its long history, Lepra has gained important insights into this highly complex disease. It also helped develop the first effective cure for leprosy in the 1950s.
Therefore, for World Leprosy Day - 29 January 2023, UK Lepra is urging people to pledge positive action to help raise awareness regarding this mysterious and elusive disease that continues to challenge scientists and health professionals alike.
Every year, roughly 200,000 new cases of leprosy are reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), although the COVID-19 pandemic has had an adverse impact on new case detection in recent years.
Since it is no longer present in Europe, leprosy has largely become a forgotten disease. But it reportedly continues to affect millions of the world’s most vulnerable people, causing lifelong disability and discrimination.
And roughly 60% of all cases occur in one country alone: India.
Also, though many people may think that leprosy is a disease of the past, Lepra explains that it is still very much of the present.
The prognosis
Leprosy reportedly affects over seven million people across the world, with numbers continuing to rise. This disease causes damage to people’s health, livelihoods, and futures.
Every day, 600 people are diagnosed with leprosy, and 50 of these are children.
Over thousands of years, leprosy developed a fearsome reputation, as a disease that spread throughout humanity with terrible consequences and no known cure.
According to Lepra, there is currently no vaccine for leprosy and its routes of transmission and prevalence are not fully understood.
There is also no easy diagnostic test to confirm infection.
Furthermore, the incubation period of this disease in the body can be anywhere between 5 and 20 years.
However, the good news is that leprosy is entirely curable.
Since the 1980s, millions of people have taken a free and available game-changing multidrug therapy that kills the leprosy bacteria in the body.
However, the trick is early diagnosis of the disease, so that people can get quick access to the cure and in turn, reduce the chances of developing lifelong disabilities brought on by the disease.
The WHO states that leprosy is curable and if treated in the early stages, disability can be prevented.
This chronic infectious disease mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, the mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract, and the eyes.
Lepra’s plans
In 2023, Lepra’s focus is on innovative, person-centred treatment and research programmes in isolated and hard-to-reach communities in India and Bangladesh.
Besides working to support the health of those affected by Leprosy, Lepra also supports the social and psychological impacts of the disease.
The charity also provides training to grassroots health providers and raises awareness to break down the myths which still prevail.
For World Leprosy Day, you can help Lepra's ‘Shine a Light on Leprosy’ campaign by pledging to help raise awareness about this disease.
To view examples of the positive actions you can take and to make your own pledge, you can visit Lepra’s website.
Greater awareness about leprosy will help Lepra support community healthcare and research into the future, improving the effectiveness of case detection, treatment, and holistic care, and helping reach the WHO’s target to end transmission of leprosy by 2030.
Bob Blackman MP speaks during the event