Inside
Previous Issue
Cover Story
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02 ‐ 04
Project Events
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06‐ 10
Things you should know….
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Letters to Editors : Readers are encouraged to write to us at [email protected]. We welcome your feedback on this issue.
Cover Story An Interview with Chief Execu ve, Lepra Sarah Nancollas is an exemplar of versa lity in many ways. A trained engineer by profession who worked in the
corporate sector, Sarah gave it up to enter the NGO domain some decades back. With vast experience of working in
different interna onal chari es and even se ng up an NGO herself, she joined Lepra as Chief Execu ve in 2010
when the organisa on was facing tough mes. She turned around the fortunes of Lepra and strengthened the
organisa on. Sarah leaves Lepra to join another charity Variety in the UK. A woman of steel with a cheerful
demeanour, passion to work, an astute decision maker, full of joie de vivre and endowed with many more facets,
Sarah talks about her s nt with Lepra and LEPRA Society in this conversa on with Radhika Rajamani. Sarah will
surely be missed by one and all at LEPRA Society!
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How did you decide to work for leprosy and other neglected tropical diseases? Was it also because Lepra is one of the old chari es with a dis nct history? I was a racted to work for Lepra because I was looking for an organisa on that worked at scale and geographically
wider than sub‐Saharan Africa. The history of Lepra was a rac ve, in par cular the reputa on of the organisa on
for problem solving.
Did your engineering background help you in exploring different diseases and conceptualising public health programmes? I think that my degree in Civil Engineering has given me a fantas c pla orm for all my work in development. It
certainly helped me focus on the prac cal issues, cost effec veness, and maximising the use of resources. Civil
Engineering is project management on a giant scale and forces you to understand the consequences of decisions.
When you took over as Chief Execu ve, Lepra it was a difficult and challenging period for the organisa on. In some me you turned the organisa on’s fortunes. It must have been an uphill task. How did you do this? What were the steps and tough decisions you had to make? We are probably at the me now that we should stop looking back at that difficult me in 2010 – 2011 as we have
come so far since then. It was the worst me in my working life, I had just moved from London and a job I enjoyed
and suddenly my job was on the line along with everybody else.
Firstly we had to understand the scale of the problem, our liabili es and commitments. We had consistently spent
more each year than we had raised, and had reached the point that our reserves were depleted. I was extremely
lucky to be working with Bernard Farmer at that me as he had an encyclopaedic knowledge of Lepra. We
developed a business recovery plan that showed we could claw back the posi on by cu ng costs and rebuilding
reserves. We s ll needed to borrow working capital to achieve this and I remain intensely grateful to our ILEP
partners (and others) for believing in us and lending us the money to keep going.
We did have to close four country programmes but we were able to ensure that the majority of ac vity was picked
up by other organisa ons. We also halved the size of the staff in Colchester. I deeply regret the heartache and
difficul es that these changes caused for loyal staff across the world but it was the only way to keep Lepra going.
We have become a much more focused organisa on, although our annual turnover is smaller we have more than
doubled the amount that we spend on leprosy and that feels right to me.
How do people perceive leprosy in UK and the West today? Is it rela vely easy/challenging to a ract funding? People in the UK believe that leprosy is a thing of the past and are not aware that it is s ll an issue today. This
makes it very difficult to raise funds, as does the geographical distribu on of the disease. People in the UK are
condi oned to thinking that aid is most needed in sub‐Saharan Africa and are less willing to listen about issues in
Asia and South America.
Lepra works in India, Bangladesh and Mozambique. Each country would be having its own dis nct problems/issues regarding the work in leprosy. Could you throw some light on this? One of the most dis nct differences for me is that there is not the s gma surrounding leprosy in Bangladesh that we
see elsewhere. Also, the concept of self‐help and economic empowerment groups is much more widely accepted
and successful in Bangladesh. Both of these allow us to work in different ways and there is scope for increased
shared learning between country programmes.
In Mozambique I believe we are closest to seeing leprosy fully integrated into NTD work and think that this should
improve impact significantly.
The scale of leprosy in India is what makes it stand out. We will not be able to consider that our job is done un l
leprosy ceases to impact lives in India and there is so much le to do.
Do you think the work being done so far is sa sfactory? No. I think that all of us working in this space have to accept that ‘more of the same’ is not going to solve the
problem. There is a degree of complacency in the leprosy world and this is why I have always championed
innova on in Lepra, as well as the need to look at leprosy from the viewpoint of the individual rather than solely as
a medical issue.
One of the biggest single factors that has prevented progress is the declara on of elimina on of leprosy as a public
health problem. Although the WHO has moved away from use of the 10/100,000 target, I am alarmed that it is s ll
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considered an important measure of success in India. I want to see a significant increase in case detec on over the
next three years and see people being congratulated for high case detec on numbers, not cas gated.
What needs to be done to bring leprosy to the forefront in the public space so as to raise awareness amongst the local popula on in the different countries Lepra works in? This is such a difficult area and I don’t have the solu on. ‘First create your emergency’ is one of the main rules of
ge ng publicity and leprosy just isn’t a tradi onal emergency. Mass media is probably the best way to profile the
disease, either through being featured on a popular entertainment channel or through a celebrity talking openly
about their experience of the disease.
You have been closely associated with LEPRA Society in India. What do you think about the growth of the organisa on and its performance? Where do you think the organisa on needs to perform be er? I am a big fan of LEPRA Society! It is no secret that I had concerns about ‘mission dri ’ in my early days when the
drive for growth took the organisa on into many new areas of work where we didn’t have exper se. We had the
situa on where skilled physiotherapists were running HIV projects. I think the new joint strategy is a major step
forward for all of us, and allows for LEPRA Society to focus its skills and increase its impact for the people we were
founded to work with. I love the innova on and problem solving that goes on in every corner of the organisa on.
What the team is not so good at is sharing that learning. I have sat in mee ngs with WHO and the Gates
Founda on and they have been blown away by the work that is done, but comment that they are not aware of us
because we don’t publish and present our findings.
In order to share our knowledge and influence policy we need to be rigorous in our approach and this is an area
where LS could improve. We have to understand fully the impact of what we do, and this starts right from project
design. I’m excited about the new Theory of Change work in Colchester and hope that this is embraced by the team
in India as it will really help in this area.
In this difficult fundraising environment I think that we all need to focus more on finding new sources of funds and I
would challenge LS to be be er at recovering overheads on project grants. That way we will be able to spend more
of the Lepra funds on trying new approaches e.g., the Sankalp projects.
How do you measure the impact of LEPRA in the people we work with? We have to look at the posi ve changes that they have been able to make to their health, social and economic
status because of our interven on. The mobile‐based data collec on tools are really helping us understand this
person by person.
How do you see the future of LEPRA Society? Increasingly I see LEPRA Society as the most respected implemen ng organisa on in leprosy in India. I think there
will be a move towards partnerships with other ILEP agencies and I hope that there will be an increased percentage
of funding raised directly in India. I want to see the work of LS contribu ng to policy discussions and decision
making as well as con nuing to change lives at an individual level.
As a chief execu ve, life must be hec c a ending mee ngs, conferences etc. in different parts of the world. Do you get me to unwind? If so, how do you do so? What are you interested in? One of my regrets about the last six years in Lepra is that I have not been able to keep up with many of my ac vi es
outside work. This has been a combina on of geography, travel and my family situa on. I am an avid sports fan
and each year travel to watch cricket, athle cs and F1. My other great passion is for landscape photography and I
am looking forward to dus ng off my camera and tripod and visi ng the islands of Scotland once more.
You are moving on to another charity which is to do with children. We think you like to test new waters… Yes and no. Strange as it may seem the job of a chief execu ve is much the same regardless of the cause and all
chari es need par cular skillsets at par cular mes. Variety, The Children’s Charity was looking for someone with
my experience in strategy development, culture change, pu ng effec ve processes in place and bringing a range of
disparate ac vi es together into a single organisa on. It will be very different working with people from the
entertainment industry and a ending gli ering events but day to day my job won’t change that much.
Maybe if I can be a li le self‐indulgent in my final comment? This has been a tough and demanding job at mes,
and I have gained a great deal of strength and inspira on from seeing how the LEPRA Society team works on the
ground. Their focus on the individual and their dedica on to the cause has given me the reason to fight the ba les
that have needed winning. I will watch your con nuing influence and success with the greatest of pleasure.
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Apprecia on for role of LEPRA Society in leprosy control ac vi es 5
Project Events Koralep ‐ Forma on of Block Level Leprosy Forum Koraput Disability care project (KORALEP) formed a block level
forum with persons affected by leprosy of Borigumma Blcok,
Koraput district Odisha on November 22 2016. In this forum,
11 members (7 Men & 4 Women) par cipated and they
elected Rama Chandra Randhari as president and Kamalochan
Harijan as secretary among them for their future course of
ac on.. Koralep staff & PMW I/c played a key role in selec on
of members for the forum and forma on. As a part of capacity
building, Koralep invited Sutansu Patro, BSSO, Borigumma
block and Dr Ashis Kumar Sadangi Medical Officer Borigumma
CHC. Sutansu Patro boosted the various welfare schemes for
affected persons with or without disabili es. He also
requested to submit the list of affected persons who are not
ge ng benefits from social security schemes. Dr Ashis Kumar
Sadangi assured to provide them medical services as and when
required Cure Cer ficates for all RFT cases & Birth cer ficates
for availing benefits of social security schemes. He also
requested members to get disability cer ficate to the disability
camp conducted monthly once. Koralep took responsibility to
prepare a list of affected persons not ge ng pensions and
submit to BSSO Borigumma. Srinivas PMW I/c Borigumma gave
a vote of thanks to the delegates. Odisha LMEH ‐ Baljyo programme SANKALP ‐ Model Village ini a ve – a step forward “BALJYOTI”, a unique programme launched by Govt. of Odisha
through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was implemented on a
pilot basis first in Ganjam district of Odisha in 2015.
Considering its grand success, the Govt. decided to further
extend and implement the project in all 30 districts of Odisha.
This programme targets school children within the age group
of 6 to 14 years for early detec on of refrac ve error. The
uniqueness of this programme lies in its collabora ve effort
among various govt. and non‐govt. departments like Rastriya
Bal Swasthya Karyakarm, District Headquarter Hospital,
District Blindness Control Society, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
district administra on and NGO/private eye hospitals of
locality. It is a comprehensive programme which includes
detec on, treatment and on spot delivery of spectacles.
The programme was very successful in three blocks of Boudh
district. Dr. Damodar Das (Consultant Ophthalmologist) led the
MNC technical team with all requisite equipments like
autorefractrometer,
Re noscope,
Handy
slitlamp,
ophthalmoscope etc and a ended the programme. A total of
604 students were referred by the trained school teachers for
refrac ve error assessment. Out of them, 139 students were
diagnosed with some sort of refrac ve error. Power glasses
were provided to the students free of cost by the district
authority. The role of MNC was highly appreciated by the
district authori es.
Kantabania is a small village situated at a foothill and is 25 kms
away from Block headquarter of Nayagarh. In the first phase
during September 2016, the SANKALP team has ini ated their
effort towards making the village vector‐borne disease free as
the major health problem in the village is vector‐borne
diseases. Hence, the whole village took one simple step by
adop ng one simple measure. The unused mosquito nets were
collected from HHs and were cut in shapes to e over the vent
pipes. The community realised that the vent pipes must be
sealed with mosquito nets to prevent mosquitoes from coming
out of the pipe and spreading disease. Then in another step,
they joined hands to declare their village as Hydrocele‐free
village. With the support of SANKALP team 25 Hydrocele cases
were operated with the help of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima
Yajana (RSBY) health card. Now, they have come forward to
coordinate with Rural Water Supply and Sanita on unit, Govt.
of Odisha for solid and liquid waste management for their
village. Before proceeding, the village commi ee is having a
mee ng with SANKALP project staff.
In November, 2016, the total SANKALP team from Puri had an
In this regard, the Sonepur & Boudh district collectors
convened a mee ng with all stakeholders in October 2016 and
invited MNC to par cipate in it. Both the district authori es
entrusted the responsibility of training, to the teachers for
primary vision recording, detec on of refrac ve error and
correc ve glass prescrip on for school students to MNC
considering its proven track record and reputa on.
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exposure visit to the Kantabania Model village, where the
ASHA has demonstrated the mosquito net impregna on with
insec cide, which they are doing in every six months period.
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Supply of ADL Kits The Ar ficial Limbs Manufacturing Corpora on of India (A
Govt. of India Undertaking) func oning under Ministry of
Social Jus ce and Empowerment) planned to supply a kit of
ac vi es of daily living (ADL) free cost for the persons with
Grade II disability. In five districts of Andhra Pradesh, the ADL
kits were supplied to 650 eligible persons.
LEPRA Society, in collabora on with Society of Leprosy
Affected Persons, Andhra Pradesh and District Nucleus Team,
iden fied 67 persons affected with leprosy and supplied the
kits in Krishna District. The team from ALIMCO, Bangalore,
Addi onal Director Leprosy & State Leprosy Officer, Dr.
Rajendra Prasad and District Leprosy Officer, Krishna, Dr. TVSN
Sastry along with the Health Staff a ended the Programme.
The kit includes universal cuff, nail cu ng device, soap holder,
bu on hook, zipper pull; adapted pen with posi oning splint,
rubber gloves, adapted glass holder, wider brim plate, long
handled lever tap and cell phone. SADAREM Cer ficate SADAREM cer ficate is very important for persons suffering
from disability. This cer ficate helps disabled persons in
accessing schemes of government (central or state). The
SADAREM cer ficate, called disability cer ficate, is issued by
the Local Medical Board. The AP government provides so many
benefits/reserva on to disabled persons like age concession
while applying for jobs in government or private sector, fee
concession in school/college fee, age limit while taking
admission etc.
In chirala mandal, 104 persons suffering from LF formed into
two support groups. These support groups organise mee ngs
among themselves to share and discuss about their health,
financial and community problems. Due to this disease, the
affected people are unable to carry out their daily rou ne
chores and depend on their family members. The people in
the support groups are also incurring expenses related to their
health and losing out on their daily wages, stepping into
financial problems. At the same me, they are unable to take
part in social or community func ons.
These disabled people request the state government to
recognise them as disabled persons, take necessary steps
towards issuing a disability cer ficate in enabling them to avail
its related benefits and welfare schemes.
Bihar and Jharkhand Staff Training A training session of Block Health Coordinators & other Project
staff on “Morbidity Management and Preven on of
Disabili es, Gender Issues and Psycho‐social aspects” was held
at Varanasi on October 2016. This training was organised to
improve the technical knowledge of the project field staff.
Par cipatory session was taken by trainers and detailed
presenta on on every aspect was carried out on leprosy and
lympha c filariasis. The trainer clearly focused on the
effec veness of self‐care method, disability grading and
reac on management. To facilitate prac cal understanding,
the trainer demonstrated with BHC for nerve involvement
assessment in leprosy affected people and cleared their
queries during sessions.
Trainer Ms. Brinda Paparaje, Professor‐ Benaras Hindu
University, oriented the staff on gender issues and gender
equali es. She also cleared the gender issues through group
work. Trainer Mr. Abhishekh emphasised how every team
member’s contribu on counts in achievement. If any me any
member’s temperament is low or does not match with other
team members then the total achievements get affected.
Paver’s Visit There are 63 leprosy colonies in 38 districts of Bihar with 1500
approximately disabled person live in these colonies. They
never had customised protec ve footwear as per their need
and choice. The government and other agencies are providing
inadequate protec ve footwear for grade I disability people of
the district but not in the colonies.
LEPRA Society has maple experience in manufacturing high
quality protec ve footwear for persons affected by leprosy
and LF. Ini ally each pa ent is given a bio‐mechanical
assessment. Footwear is then handmade from micro‐cellular
rubber with podiatry appliances personalised for each
pa ent’s unique requirements. This bespoke product protects
from external trauma and injury, and provides shock
absorp on. The innova on of mobile foot care unit, is a great
success, first of its kind is supported by Pavers, UK.
These custom‐made shoes are designed, made and fi ed by
specialist shoemakers. Each pair is unique, made to the
individual requirements. The moulded soles are padded to
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increase the weight‐bearing area and reduce pressure, so that
the foot is stable and given support exactly where it's needed.
While on a visit to India in November‐2016, Stuart Paver and
Rachel Paver who have funded the mobile footcare unit,
visited Premnagar colony, Patna. Here the Paver’s couple
mingled with one and all with ease, which made the
beneficiaries and others comfortable to share their views. The
complete process of manufacturing and delivering of footwear
was presented to the couple. Stuart and Rachel met the
people and their children, distributed the protec ve footwear
to the persons affected by leprosy. They were amazed with the
work carried out by mobile footwear unit and felt that services
are being provided to needy persons. They said “these
memories will stay in our hearts forever”.
physiotherapist assessed the knowledge of field Block Health
Coordinator by conduc ng pre/post test ques onnaire. The
project staff was given the task of measuring feet of persons
affected by leprosy and lympha c filariasis.
Basing on the orienta on training technical, a IPOD camp was
organised in Taroni village of Ajaygarh block.
Through this camp, two leprosy (RFT), three hydrocele, 15
lympha c filariasis & one affected both with lympha c
filariasis and hydrocele are benefi ed with morbidity/self‐care
management prac ces.
Case study ‐ On the path to success Coordina on Mee ng A mee ng was organised among ILEP/NLEP/ government
officials. The objec ve was to focus partners’ ac vity for
suppor ng NLEP and to improve coordina on among partners
at district/state level.
SPARSH project is providing customised footwear to needy
persons affected with leprosy and filariasis free of cost. The
project is also ini a ng a reconstruc ve surgical centre. It has
been informed to all members that ll date 40 reconstruc ve
surgeries have been performed. There were no records of RCS
cases available un l October 2015. The centre has out pa ent
department where diagnosed cases of leprosy were referred
to Community Health Centres. The cases suffering from
leprosy need temporary hospitalisa on and treatment free of
cost.
Training of Trainers LCDC II was scheduled during the month. The SLO has
requested all ILEP partners to ensure quality in early case
detec on ac vity with the monitoring visits undertaken by
LEPRA Society. In this regard, a three‐day Training of Trainers
(TOT) from November 29 – December01 was organised at
SIHFW, Patna. The par cipants were Communicable Disease
Officer, DNT, MO PHCs, Health Manager and Block Community
Mobiliser. The training was done by ILEP members and WHO
State Coordinator with focus on increasing coverage, referring
missed out cases at the community level.
Madhya Pradesh Orienta on Training in IPoD The Sankalp MP is drawing experiences from Sankalp Odisha
field staff in conduc ng IPOD camp to obtain results and serve
the needy persons. The grade‐wise shoe models produced at
The
Sankalp, Puri were shared with the project team.
LEPRA CHAHA project covering seven districts of Telangana
and Madhya Pradesh states has supported 203 out of 250
children with educaƟonal support. Samatha is one among
the beneficiaries being benefiƩed by Oracle .
Samatha is the eldest daughter of Gopal, who is affected with
leprosy since 18 years. She lives in an urban slum in
Hyderabad. Samatha is pursuing her Chartered Accountancy
Common Profession Test course from a private college.
Ini ally, she encountered problems despite remi ng her fees
in the college. The teaching faculty was irregular in conduc ng
the classes. Samatha analysed this situa on and was worried
about comple ng her course. She then searched with the help
of people the par culars of the same course at other colleges,
where the syllabus could be covered in a professional manner.
However,the college where she had registered did not refund
the fees. This added to the worries of the family which was
already in dire straits financially. Samatha had two more
sisters to be educated.
In these circumstances, the educa onal support from Oracle
helped in con nuing her studies. The Oracle support surely
makes her stand on her own feet enabling her to lead a decent
life.
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Interna onal Day of Persons with Disabili es
LEPRA Society observed the Interna onal Day of Persons with Disabili es on December, 2016 with the theme “Achieving 17 Goals
for the Future we want”, facilitated the Press Meets in collabora on with the Society of Persons affected with Leprosy, Andhra
Pradesh to focus on more inclusive and equitable access for persons with disabili es. The Disability Act, 1995, recognises leprosy
(leprosy cured) as a disability. Further, the UN Conven on on the Rights of Persons with Disabili es (UNCRPD), ra fied in 2007,
provides for all rights on an equal basis with others to all people with disabili es without any discrimina on. Despite these
legisla ons, the ground reali es experienced by persons affected by leprosy has not changed much. The issues regarding
marriages, no priori sa on for providing employment opportuni es for the educated children from leprosy affected families,
prac cal issues in accessing the schemes for ra on and pensions were focused by the SLAP AP Board. The representa ons were
made to the local MLA, Ministers and Mandal level Authori es.
An event was organised to celebrate the Interna onal Day of People with Disability at Nallakunta, Hyderabad on December 3,
2016. The aim is to encourage a be er understanding of people affected by a disability, together with helping to make people
more aware of the rights, dignity and welfare of disabled people, as well as raise awareness about the benefits of integra ng
disabled persons into every aspect of life, from economic, poli cal, to social and cultural.
Disability Day is used for holding discussions, forums and campaigns rela ng to disability, and communi es are encouraged to
organise mee ng, talks, and even performances in their local areas. The overall aim is to show non‐disabled people that a person
with a disability can be a vibrant member of society, as it happens that the en rely healthy are not always quite aware of this fact,
which can lead to different kinds of discrimina on of varying degrees of severity. The disabled, on the other hand, benefit from
such performances by proving to themselves that there are many things they can s ll do, despite their condi ons, which can help
them with their self‐esteem and avoid mental issues such as depression from plaguing them. In general, these kinds of events are
meant to challenge the disabled and occasions where they get rid of various stereotypes so that these people can enjoy lives free
of discrimina on and addi onal hardship.
In the programme, 45 people with whom we work par cipated including District Forum members of Hyderabad and members
from SLAP. They discussed about the rights and the benefits they have to get from the government. About 50% of them are not
ge ng any government benefits. The district forum members have listed out names of those not ge ng the government benefits
and submi ed to SLAP to approach government.
The involvement of district forum members (Hyderabad District Forum) is highly appreciated. They discussed and iden fied the
problems faced by the people whom we work with in the community and they wrote a le er to President SLAP a aching the list of
people whom we work with for ge ng benefits from government. Each year the day is celebrated and there is an emphasis on a
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new aspect related to improving the lives of people living with a disability.
SLAP AP During the Interna onal Disability Day, SLAP facilitated the press meets to focus more on inclusive and equitable access for
persons with disabili es. Despite these legisla ons, the ground reali es experienced by persons affected by leprosy remain
unchanged. The issues regarding marriages, no priori sa on for providing employment opportuni es for educated children from
leprosy affected families, prac cal issues in accessing schemes for ra on and pensions were focused by SLAP AP Board. A
representa on was made to the local MLA, Ministers and Mandal level authori es.
SANKALP AP The project is conduc ng Integrated Preven on of Disability Camps
where health, social and economic condi ons of individuals are
assessed and managed. Towards sustained ac on, ensuring community
and family par cipa on, the ac ve affected persons are involved and
mo vated to form into a group known as a self‐support groups. These
self‐support groups facilitate access for rehabilita on services and
opportuni es for socio‐economic aspects. The project formed 23 Self‐
Support Groups with the persons affected with lympha c filariasis at
village level. Till date, 230 LF affected persons (80% of women enrolled)
joined the support groups with a purpose to form community‐level
groups promo ng self‐care prac ces as part of Morbidity Management
ini ally at the village level. Addi onally, the support group members act
as a bridge between persons affected with lympha c filariasis and
government services in accessing welfare schemes.
Advocacy ini a ves were taken forward on Dec 03, 2016. The support
group members in six mandals has given representa ons to MPDO’s,
poli cal par es focusing issues related to health, economic aspects. A
press meet was also conducted at district level to seek support in raising
profile of disease and con nue further discussions at district and state level towards the criteria of eligibility in ge ng disability
cer ficates and pensions .
The government authori es at divisional level proac vely responded to representa on with a hope of taking forward the issue to
the next higher level. The Chirala mandal was assured towards issuance of SADERAM cer ficate in building toilets for persons
affected with lympha c filariasis.
Bihar and Jharkhand The Interna onal Day of People with Disability was observed on 3rd December 2016 in four districts, Bhagalpur, Munger, Begusarai
and Samas pur of NTDRU and Sparsh Dhanbad. The various
ac vi es like IPOD camp, quiz compe on, rally and community
interac on mee ng were organised. The persons with disability
were informed about the social en tlements. The school
children were also sensi sed about leprosy and lympha c
disability. They demonstrated morbidity management and
distributed self‐care kits and protec ve footwear. We see a
future promo ng removal of all types of barriers; including those
rela ng to the physical environment, informa on and
communica ons technology or a tudinal barriers.
Similarly, the disability day was also observed at Sparsh,
Dhanbad in collabora on with TATA Steel. The Chief Guest Mr.
Sanjay Rajoria, GM Tata Steel, Jharia Division, opined his views
about disability preven on and described about livelihood facility available at TATA Steel. They distributed two tricycles, two
wheelchairs, two crutches, 50 blankets and 45 disability cer ficates between 51 persons with disability.
On this occasion, SPARSH project started mass awareness campaign for a period of 60 days in 8 blocks of Dhanbad district star ng
from December 2016 un l March 2017. The IEC van propagates through film show, exhibi on, mike and pamphlets distribu on
about leprosy/filariasis covering three to four villages in a day. They will be referring suspects of leprosy and lympha c to nearest
Primary Health Centre.
In the next issue of newsle er, we will interview Dr Urmila Pingle, Member ‐Management Commi ee, LEPRA Society. 10
Things You Should Know…. 18 Diseases The World Has Turned Its Back On This ar cle is part HuffPost’s Project Zero campaign, a yearlong series on neglected tropical diseases and efforts to
eliminate them.
More than 1 billion people on the planet suffer from illnesses that
the world pays li le a en on to.
Neglected tropical diseases are a group of at least 18 diseases
that primarily affect people living in poverty in tropical regions of
the world and are virtually unknown elsewhere, according to the
World Health Organiza on.
These are diseases like river blindness, which has infected 18
million people worldwide and caused blindness in 270,000
people; or elephan asis, a leading cause of disability worldwide,
which affects over 120 million people and can cause severe
swelling of the body parts, usually the legs or the scrotum.
While only some of these illnesses can be fatal, many of them can
cause lifelong disabili es or disfigurement. And even though
many neglected tropical diseases are preventable and treatable,
ge ng proper medical care to the people who are most
vulnerable can be challenging, as the diseases primarily affect
people in high‐poverty communi es with limited access to health
services.
“Because they are a threat only in impoverished se ngs, they
have low visibility in the rest of the world,” WHO Director‐
General Margaret Chan says in a 2010 report. “While the scale of
the need for treatment is huge, the poverty of those affected
limits their access to interven ons and the services needed to deliver them.”
It’s tough to iden fy a single cause for the neglect. While some cri cize the pharmaceu cal industry for not inves ng
enough in treatments for neglected tropical diseases ― likely because the poor popula ons affected wouldn’t make
for a profitable consumer base ― others say it’s not Big Pharma’s job to make “non‐profit medicines,” reports The
Guardian. There have also been notable efforts by countries and drug companies to work together to tackle these
diseases.
Governments should priori ze research and funding to fight these diseases, the WHO’s Ashok Moloo told The
Huffington Post. And they should seek to improve condi ons in poor communi es that are hardest‐hit, for instance, by
inves ng in clean water and sanita on, which would help curb the spread of some diseases.
There is one thing everyone can agree on: Far more needs to be done. Here is a list of the neglected tropical diseases
that are all too o en ignored.
18 diseases Elephan asis Leprosy
River Blindness
Chagas Dengue
Sleeping Sickness
Leishmaniasis Trachoma
Rabies
Schistosomiasis Chikungunya
Echinoccosis
Foodborne Trematodiases Buruli Ulcer
Yaws
Soil‐Transmi ed Helminth Taeniasis
Guinea‐Worm
Source : h p://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/neglected‐tropical‐diseases_us_583dd906e4b0860d6116c06a
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