Diseases of poverty

In poor communities children are often the most vulnerable to disease

LEPRA, leprosy and diseases of poverty

Poverty and poor health are inextricably linked. Leprosy is a neglected disease that is often seen as a disease of the poor. Over-crowded accommodation, low standards of hygiene and inadequate nutrition provide ideal conditions for leprosy to spread and the disease is most prevalent in the poorest areas of the developing world.

Leprosy is not however the only disease which threatens the communities with whom we work.

Malnutrition, something affecting one in two children in India, coupled with poor living conditions increases the risk of infectious disease.
This places these same people at risk from a host of other life threatening or disabling conditions.

Three quarters of the world’s extreme poor now live in middle-income countries but are excluded from the development taking place within their economies.

For these people gaps in health care mean that otherwise preventable and treatable diseases like leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, malaria, TB, HIV and AIDS are not only needlessly damaging lives and livelihoods, they are ending them.

You can help to bridge these gaps with a donation to LEPRA today. Together we can remove the physical and socio-economic barriers that leave millions of people vulnerable to disease, disability and discrimination.

Every day:

620 people are diagnosed with leprosy, one every two minutes
24,100 are diagnosed with TB
1,100 babies are born HIV positive
5,500 people die from AIDS related illness
2,900 children die from malaria
3,800 people die from TB, including 1,400 women of childbearing age

Every day we remind ourselves that LEPRA is well placed to fight diseases of poverty:

Transforming the lives of around 73,000 people with leprosy a year.
Our TB programmes provide testing, treatment and counselling for 360,000 people per year.
Our services for those living with HIV and AIDS make the lives of 800,000 people more bearable.
We provide disability prevention services to help people already affected by leprosy as well as around 25,000 affected by lymphatic filariasis which is a potentially disabling disease borne by mosquitoes.
Our health education vans educate audiences of 1.7 million people per year in Bangladesh alone on the cause of disease, signs and symptoms and where to go for help.

We can’t do it without you…

LEPRA relies on the support of people like you for 40 per cent of our funding. Your support today will mean that life-saving and rehabilitative care will be available long-term to fight leprosy and other diseases of poverty.

LEPRA Newsletter January 2013

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