As with any infectious disease, our aim must be to stop it transferring to new people.
Leprosy has a long gestation period, which means a person can have the disease for years before it begins to show. When we diagnose fewer children with leprosy, it's a sign that we're slowing the spread of the disease.
In 2019 we diagnosed 677 children with leprosy. Our goal is that no children will be diagnosed by 2023.
Providing training for other medical and NGO staff means that they are better able to spot and treat cases quickly and before the disease can transmit to others.
Rosalina is from Mozambique. When she first saw signs of leprosy she went to a traditional healer who gave her something to drink and told her to take a bath using a recipe he had created. Traditional healing doesn't cure leprosy, so this did not work.
She attended a local health centre about her symptoms, but they had not received leprosy training and so they sent her back home with skin creams.
Fortunately, she was able to visit one of our leprosy specialists and they diagnosed her with leprosy. She now has leprosy medication and will be cured.
We have a number of tools in our battle to reduce the rate of transmission. We need to continue to train local doctors, nurses, and NGO staff to recognise leprosy so they can refer people for treatment.
Thanks to your support, our scientists are also working on new and faster ways to diagnose leprosy and ways to prevent the disease from spreading through post-exposure medication.
