Lepra - Helping To Beat Leprosy.

 

Dear  Friends ,

Throughout a tumultuous, sometimes tortuous and frequently tiring year, your unwavering encouragement has allowed Lepra to successfully adapt and evolve to continue to meet the needs of the people we work with, people affected by leprosy and lymphatic filariasis (LF). Our teams are working relentlessly to ensure that vulnerable people receive their COVID-19 vaccinations, with 15,503 people to date in India having received two doses. We will increase this number further as funding allows. We continue to provide vital PCR testing and essential PPE kits and have distributed 1,900 ration kits to communities where our help is desperately needed. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states, working closely with Mission Oxygen, we distributed 80 oxygen concentrators to hospitals at the peak of the pandemic this spring.  Now, all hospitals with more than 100 beds are constructing oxygen plants in anticipation of future demand! Referral centres have continued to be staffed and open to patients, although the numbers of people attending outpatient clinics and seeking treatment have obviously decreased during lockdowns.  Active case finding and other community-based surveying activities have been put on hold whilst lockdowns are in place, but we have flexed our operations to work around the temporary restrictions in different districts. Using self-help self-care groups already embedded within local communities, Lepra is a valuable strategic partner working tirelessly to support the COVID-19 vaccination effort. This work has been underpinned by a public awareness campaign about the importance of testing and vaccination. With awareness levels extraordinarily low in rural communities coupled with visibly high levels of vaccination fear, careful and considered awareness raising is a critical component to the uptake of the vaccine in rural areas. A continued programme of vaccination is our best chance to beat COVID-19. You can help those most vulnerable, those most at risk, by donating today. Just £19 allows us to provide someone with leprosy both doses of the vaccine in a safe and dignified location. Thank you for continuing to support our wonderful work.

PLEASE DONATE

In collaboration with Mission Oxygen, Lepra has now delivered 80 oxygen concentrators to local hospitals across the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Read more.

Lepra has been working with schools and youth groups for many many years to educate young people about the damaging effects of the world’s oldest and most neglected disease, leprosy. Whilst COVID-19 has had a huge impact on schools in the UK, this hasn’t stopped our engagement work with schools who have hosted remote online assemblies for our team and even virtual Zumba workouts!  We are both privileged and honoured that so many schools have continued their fundraising activities throughout lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions.  Since 2019, our schools have raised a tremendous total of £203,326.