Long Term Collaboration with Netherlands Leprosy Relief
- Countries
- Brazil, Nigeria, Mozambique, Madagascar, India, Nepal, Myanmar, the Mekong region, and Indonesia
- Funders
-
Netherlands Leprosy Relief
Australian Aid
occasionally additional funding agencies for specific projects - Partner
- Netherlands Leprosy Relief
In a long-term collaboration, KIT Royal Tropical Institute and the Netherlands Leprosy Relief (NLR) have been working to reduce leprosy, whilst improving methods for its evaluation and study. This has resulted in significant research contribution and global policy setting, as well as country-level improvements in leprosy detection and control.
Furthering the agenda in global leprosy control
Following global efforts, the number of new leprosy patients per year has fallen: from around 600,000 in the 1990s to about 233,000 in 2012. However, despite the substantial progress further reduction will take time. Moreover, statistics from different regions are not all reliable, and the number of infected patients is estimated to be 3-4 times what is reported.
Over the years, KIT has supported NLR in their country-level projects namely in Brazil, Nigeria, Mozambique, Madagascar, India, Nepal, Myanmar, the Mekong region and Indonesia.
Cooperation with the Netherlands Leprosy Relief has contributed to global policy setting concerning leprosy control, good quality leprosy control programmes and numerous innovations. Sizable contributions have been made to research, monitoring and evaluation systems, and integration processes in the form of three technical guidelines and more than 40 publications in peer-reviewed journals.