Achievements

Early years: LEPRA pioneered the medical treatment of leprosy patients through the use of Chaulmoogra oil. In 1931 it was recognised by the International Congress in Manila as the first ‘leprosy prevention organisation’.

1945 to 1949: LEPRA’s first field research into Dapsone as an effective treatment for leprosy.

1961: LEPRA’s Dr Stanley Browne conducted trials of a new drug Clofazimine which proved to be a powerful anti-leprosy drug.

1963: The Children’s Fund was set up to treat more children on an outpatient basis.

1972: LEPRA’s medical committee began research into a new antibiotic drug, Rifampicin.

1977: LEPRA arranged the ‘Heathrow Meeting’ to discuss the vital question of resistance to Dapsone.

1984: LEPRA was one of the first organisations to use multi-drug therapy (MDT), a combination of Dapsone , Clofazimine and Rifampicin, to treat leprosy. MDT is now the principal treatment for leprosy around the world.

1989: The inaugural meeting of the LEPRA India Society was held in Hyderabad, and the first locally managed project started. India has the greatest incidence of leprosy in the world.

1992: LEPRA’s scientific journal, Leprosy Review, came first out of 17 tropical medical journals in the Science Citation Index. It has maintained its high position ever since.

1995: LEPRA India cured its 100,000th patient.

1996: The results of LEPRA’s Karonga vaccine trial were published. These showed that two Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccinations could provide up to 85% protection against leprosy infection.

1997: LEPRA reduced the number of registered patients from approximately 30,000 in 1965 to less than a thousand, and transferred the leprosy programme to the national government.

1998: New projects started in Bangladesh, Nepal and Madagascar, and LEPRA began to help with TB control and raising awareness of HIV/AIDS.

2000: State-of-the-art ‘Blue Peter’ Research Centre inaugurated following a £2.8million appeal.

2002: LEPRA began a three year project on the molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium leprae – the bacterium that causes leprosy. This study looked to further understand the causes of leprosy transmission, and why some people are more susceptible to the disease than others. Also in 2002, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance chose LEPRA India to lead its HIV/AIDS protection work in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

2003: Work further expanded into China, Angola and Guatemala, and LEPRA’s advocacy work broadened into a Social Rights Project co-funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

2004: LEPRA’s 80th Anniversary brought further expansion to all areas of our work, and this is still ongoing.

2008: In recent years, LEPRA has broadened its remit to enable our skills and experience to benefit the control of other diseases of poverty. We officially changed our name to LEPRA Health in Action in 2008 to reflect this expansion of our work into new areas.