KIT Blog

By Eva Lee, The Leprosy Mission Australia, International Programs Officer

Over the years, Nepal has made significant progress in reducing leprosy in their country.  However, sustaining their achievements and ensuring quality leprosy services still exist in order to completely eliminate the disease has proven to be a challenge.  Leprosy continues to remain endemic in at least 17 districts and low numbers of leprosy still exist in a further 52 districts.  The Nepalese government recognised this challenge and through the National Leprosy Programme of Nepal, commenced development of a Zero Leprosy Roadmap.  Planning for this started in 2019 with an in-depth review of the existing leprosy plans and establishment of targets to be achieved by 2030.

Targets for the roadmap include reducing the number of new leprosy cases by 2/3, introducing the use of post-exposure prophylaxis in all districts, conducting contact tracing with all new cases, zero cases of disability from leprosy and zero discrimination of people with leprosy through dismantling discriminatory laws (in Nepal, a law still exists where having leprosy is grounds for divorce).

These may sound like ambitious targets to achieve in less than 10 years.  However, with appropriate strategies and investment from key stakeholders this can be achieved.  Therefore, we were keen to hear that Nepal has recently developed an action plan to address the specific needs and challenges of the country in ending leprosy.  This action plan was developed with national ownership and political commitment and suggests prioritizing cost-effective and accessible methods for ensuring treatment completion, active case finding approaches to support early diagnosis and management to reduce the chance of permanent disability.  In addition, activities are also planned to combat stigma and ensure human rights are a priority.

It is exciting to hear about this next step forward in eliminating leprosy in Nepal and also encouraging to learn that the direction taken by our TLMA funded projects are already targeting many of these priority areas.  Our projects in Nepal run in partnership with The Leprosy Mission Nepal (TLMN) and Nepal Leprosy Fellowship (NLF) conduct contact tracing activities through mini elimination campaigns, skin camps, build leprosy awareness in communities, train health workers in the detection and management of leprosy and empower people with leprosy to learn how to advocate for their own rights.

We look forward to seeing how our projects contribute to achieving the action plan.

If you would like to learn about our projects in Nepal, please see our projects:

• Integrated Mobilisation of People For Active Community Transformation (IMPACT)
  
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• Self Care Unit
  
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• Education Program
  
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• RECLAIM II Eastern Development Region Project
  
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