Our target is to stop the transmission of leprosy by 2035. This means there would be no new cases of leprosy after then.
In order to achieve this we need to detect and treat cases early. This involves health workers being able to accurately diagnose cases and starting them on MDT. It also involves tracing the close contacts of these cases and screening them for leprosy.
We know there will have been many people who would have been diagnosed with leprosy in 2020 but were not. Covid-19 slowed our efforts to visit communities to find new cases, as well as prevented people from visiting hospitals and clinics.
However, our teams still found opportunities to conduct this crucial work throughout 2020. When countries were not living through periods of lockdown and travel restrictions, our teams visited communities to find new cases of leprosy.
© Tom Bradley
346,780,386 people live in areas that TLM supports
Leprosy is treated with Multi Drug Therapy (MDT). Because of supply issues and Covid-related transport issues, MDT shortages affected countries around the world. This meant people could not receive treatment and potentially remained infectious.
Our teams worked with governments to ensure that the treatment reached communities that needed it most.
Another key tool in our efforts to find and treat more cases of leprosy is training government and NGO staff so that they are able to spot the key signs and symptoms of leprosy.
Our teams delivered 29,916 days of training in 2020
© Ricardo Franco
We know there are many people who were not diagnosed in 2020 because Covid-19 restrictions prevented us from reaching them or prevented them from reaching us.
This is not good news, as people with leprosy who are not on treatment can transmit the disease to others. Also, they may develop disabilities that are preventable when leprosy is diagnosed and treated early.
We know how to limit the damage that Covid-19 has caused to efforts to interrupt leprosy transmission.
When we diagnose a person with leprosy, we can screen their closest contacts (the people they live with or near) for signs of leprosy. Those found to have leprosy will be given MDT.
For those without signs of leprosy, we now have the option of treating them with post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), an antibiotic that can prevent leprosy. More of our projects are introducing this option.
Fasmina was diagnosed and treated quickly thanks to contact tracing efforts in Sri Lanka.
© Ruth Towell