AN APPEAL FOR URGENT HELP

Over the past year, Lepra has faced an unprecedented funding crisis.

Deep cuts to international aid, combined with growing pressure on charitable giving, have left us with no choice but to reduce healthcare support in India by 60%, despite exhausting every possible way to protect frontline services. With a reduction of our community-based services, it will invariably be the most vulnerable members of society that bear a disproportionate impact.

Recently our team in Odisha met nine-year-old Kamal, who is being raised by his 18-year-old sister after both parents died. He had mobility issues and was no longer well enough to attend school. When our health workers examined him, they recognised the early signs of leprosy and began treatment immediately. He also received emotional support and protective footwear to help him return to school and play with his friends. Without the local referral centre, Kamal may have remained undiagnosed until permanent disability had already developed.

Read more about Karmal’s inspirational real-life story here.

We are now seeing the consequences of decisions we have spent 101 years working to prevent. 

In rural communities across India, a child may develop a pale patch of skin that has lost sensation. A parent may not understand its significance. A local health worker may not recognise the early signs. Without a nearby Lepra-supported service, diagnosis may be delayed until nerve damage and permanent disability have already developed. Leprosy is curable, but only when detected and treated early. 

When our services close, there is often no alternative. In many of these communities, no other provider exists. The impact of these reductions is not abstract; it is immediate and severe: 

• 50 care facilities have been forced to close 
• Leprosy screening has fallen from 400,000 people per year to 50,000 
• 75% of specialist services providing wound care, nerve assessments and protective footwear have shut 
• Training for local healthcare workers has been reduced by 85% 

What this means for people affected by leprosy

As a result, we estimate:

• 3,500 people with leprosy will go undiagnosed
• 6,600 people will miss essential self-care kits
• 12,000 people will not receive protective footwear that prevents disability      

Without these interventions, many will face worsening illness, permanent disability, loss of income, deepening poverty, and continued stigma and exclusion. In simple terms, every service closure increases the likelihood that someone will be missed and left without care. 

This week I spoke with  Arun Kumar, Head of Programmes for LEPRA Society in India, and he explained: 

When a Lepra-supported service closes, a whole chain of protection breaks… and a disease we know how to cure is allowed to become a lifelong disability.

Behind the scenes, we are doing everything we can.

Our UK team has been significantly reduced, and we are working with colleagues in India to strengthen access to local funding. However, these changes take time. Each day our services remain closed, more people are at risk of delayed diagnosis, untreated wounds, and avoidable disability. 

A very generous donor has offered matched funding meaning that first £50,000 we raise will be doubled. To begin restoring these vital frontline services, we need your help. 

• £500 becomes £1,000 and could fund a specialist outreach worker for four months, to undertake screening of endemic communities, an essential step in ensuring diagnosis and treatment and curbing the transmission of leprosy. Put simply, cuts to our screening programme mean that people will go undiagnosed. 
• £1,250 becomes £2,500 and could fund a healthcare technician for a year. This would provide customised handmade shoes to 360 people. The footwear significantly reduces the risk of ulcers, disability and amputations.
• £7,000 becomes £14,000 which could get one of our footwear vans back on the road for a whole year, helping to deliver footwear to 500 people in isolated regions across India. Our vans get to places most other health services cannot, and without them there is no alternative for many communities. 
• £10,000 becomes £20,000 could fund a referral centre for one year. Our referral centres are a vital service in diagnosing, treating and rehabilitating people affected by leprosy. We concentrate on providing services in areas which have poor health infrastructure, so closure of these centres has been a devastating blow to many affected communities. 

After 101 years, Lepra cannot turn away from people who have nowhere else to go. Today, your support can help us reopen services, reach people before disability develops, and restore hope to communities that have lost their only source of specialist care.

Many of the services we have built over the past century have only been possible because of supporters like you, so thank you. I hope you’ll consider standing with us again at this critical moment.

Your support will help restore the most urgent elements of our work: early detection, wound and ulcer care, self-care support, and protective footwear provision. Lepra has stood alongside people affected by leprosy and lymphatic filariasis for 101 years. We cannot step back now. Please consider supporting this appeal. Your donation will be doubled and could help prevent a lifetime of avoidable disability. 

There are many ways you can donate to Lepra, either via our website at www.lepra.org.uk/donate, or please contact my team to discuss the many ways that you can create a vital impact: 

Tel: 01206 216700 or Email: JimmyI@lepra.org.uk 

Thank you.