MMN June Mag 2026 Online - Flipbook - Page 17
Leprosy is curable with mul琀椀-drug
therapy (MDT), pills taken for six
to 24 months; but le昀琀 untreated it
causes progressive and permanent
damage, and in severe cases the
need to amputate 昀椀ngers or toes
or even limbs. The MDT is available
for free worldwide, but reaching all
those with the disease remains a
huge task. So tackling leprosy is a
complex problem, with social, economic and logis琀椀cal challenges, as
well as medical.
About 200,000 new cases of leprosy are diagnosed annually, of which
70% are in South and South-East
Asia. However, an es琀椀mated three
million people are as yet undiagnosed, because the symptoms develop slowly; and many others are
dealing with long-term disabili琀椀es.
Lalgadh Hospital
In 1991, a昀琀er 20 years of helping
rehabilitate those a昀昀ected by leprosy in prac琀椀cal ways in Kathmandu, NLT began to build Lalgadh
Leprosy Hospital and Services
Centre (LLHSC) at Lalgadh village
in Dhanusha district, to treat people in the southeast of Nepal. It
opened in 1996 and has expanded
steadily since then. It is now one of
the world’s busiest leprosy centres,
with several hundred pa琀椀ents visiting each day, of which about 10%
have leprosy. The district is part of
Health educa琀椀on in women’s group
Madhesh Province, and NLT now
supports the government’s Na琀椀onal Leprosy Control Programme in all
of its eight districts.
To date, LLHSC has detected and
treated more than 44,000 people
with leprosy, and s琀椀ll 昀椀nds nearly 1,000 new cases each year, including some from India. Madhesh
Province s琀椀ll records the highest
number of new cases in Nepal; but
the number has been falling slowly,
demonstra琀椀ng the e昀昀ec琀椀veness of
early detec琀椀on, MDT and various
campaigns.
Partnerships
LLHSC is seeking, with other partners, to implement the most e昀昀ec琀椀ve ways to achieve zero leprosy.
Looking back, we can see God’s
hand in how the work started
and has grown, and in the various
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