WHO Publications

ILEP is in official relations with the World Health Organization. Together they are:

• working together to ensure the widest possible implementation of the current global strategy for reducing the numbers of cases of leprosy;
• jointly promoting the prevention of disabilities and rehabilitation of persons and families affected by leprosy; and
• continuously striving to improve the quality of patient care and to promote the fight against stigma and discrimination.

The ILEP Federation is helping to disseminate WHO’s current publications on leprosy by making them available for download from the ILEP Website. WHO and ILEP worked closely to prepare the current Global Strategy for Further Reducing the Leprosy Burden and Sustaining Leprosy Control Activities (Plan Period 2006-2010) and its accompanying set of Operational Guidelines. At the end of 2007 the Technical Guide on Community-Based Rehabilitation and Leprosy was published. It was the first joint WHO-ILEP publication.

The WHO also has a page on its Website with links to various publications and reports about leprosy: http://www.who.int/lep/resources/pubs/en/index.html 

Enhanced Global Strategy (2011-2015)

The Enhanced Global Strategy for Further Reducing the Disease Burden due to Leprosy (Plan Period: 2011-2015) retains the main principle of leprosy control, based on timely detection of new cases and their treatment with effective chemotherapy in the form of multidrug therapy. The emphasis remains on sustaining provisions for quality patient care that are equitably distributed, affordable and easily accessible.

Download in English: (251 KB)
Download in French: (2.38 MB)

The main components of this Strategy are: 

• Sustaining political commitment at the national and local government levels in all endemic countries
• Strengthening routine and referral services within the integrated health systems in all endemic countries
• Using the rate of new cases with grade-two disabilities among new cases per 100 000 population as a key indicator to monitor progress in addition to the current list of indicators
• Implementing innovative approaches for case-finding in order to reduce the delay in diagnosis and the occurrence of grade-two disabilities among new cases, including examination of household contacts of cases at the time of diagnosis or within a time span close to the same and incorporating special efforts to improve control activities for populations living in difficult-to-access and suburban areas
• Improving quality of clinical services for diagnosis and for the management of acute and chronic complications, including prevention of disabilities/impairments, and enhancing the provision of rehabilitation services through a well organized referral system
• Supporting all initiatives to promote community-based rehabilitation with special attention given to activities aimed at reducing stigma and discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their families
• Ensuring supply of drugs for multidrug therapy free of cost and effective distribution systems in all endemic countries
• Establishing and maintaining a surveillance system to prevent and limit development and transmission of resistance to anti-leprosy drugs
• Promoting development of more effective drugs/regimens to treat leprosy and its complications
• Developing sustainable training strategies at the global and national levels to ensure availability of leprosy expertise in all endemic countries
• Exploring the use of chemoprophylaxis as a tool to prevent the occurrence of new leprosy cases among household contacts
• Fostering supportive working arrangements with partners at all levels 

Enhanced Global Strategy Operational Guidelines 2011 - 2015

The Updated Operational Guidelines attempts to provice practical solutions, based on current professional knowledge, for the implementation of activities in the field.

These have two functions:

- to define and explain terms, concepts and activities mentioned in the Strategy; and

- to indicate how the strategy should be implemented in the context of a national programme.

Download in English (502 KB) 
Download in French (469 KB)


 

Workshops for Health Service Managers in Charge of Leprosy Control Programmes

These workshops From Global Strategy to National Action, developed for health service managers in charge of leprosy control programmes, are an attempt by the World Health Organization and its partners, including ILEP, to ensure that communities will continue to have access to quality leprosy services even in low endemic countries. The manuals for both participants and facilitators have been developed by the WHO in close collaboration with ILEP. Following a pilot workshop at ALERT, Ethiopia, in December 2007, further workshops are planned during 2008. These will include ones in Trinidad, April 2008 (for the PAHO region) and at ALERT in Ethiopia, May 2008 (for the AFRO region). Further workshops are planned to take place in Bangladesh and Vietnam later in 2008 for both the SEARO and WPRO regions.

Listing of WHO Workshops for Health Service Managers in Charge of Leprosy Control 

Download Facilitator Guide (2.24MB)

 

Download Participant Guide (2.23 MB)

Download in English: (1.6MB)

Download in French: (1.18MB)

Download in Portuguese: (4.37MB)

Download in Spanish: (2.88MB)

WHO Technical Advisory Group

This Technical Advisory Group is an independent body of experts, which provides appropriate advice to the WHO's Global Leprosy Programme.

Report of 6th Meeting (135KB)

Report of 7th Meeting (236KB)

Report of 8th Meeting (84KB)

Report of 9th Meeting (193KB)

Report of 10th Meeting (96KB)

Key Meeting Reports

Report of the Workshop on Sentinel Surveillance for Drug Resistance in Leprosy, Paris, France, 26th - 27th October 2009

Download Report

Draft Report of the Workshop on Sentinel Surveillance for Drug Resistance in Leprosy, Hanoi, Viet Nam, 20th - 22nd October 2008

Download DRAFT Report

Informal Consultation on Innovative Approaches to Further Reduce Leprosy Burden in Countries, 17th - 18th September 2008

Download Report

Informal Consultation on Rifampicin Resistance in Leprosy held at the National JALMA Institute of Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases, Agra, India, 30th November - 1st December 2007

Download Report 

The WHO Newsletter on Disability and Rehabilitation

The WHO Newsletter on Disability and Rehabilitation:
http://www.who.int/disabilities/publications/newsletter/en/index.html

Latest issue of December 2009 (no. 9):
http://www.who.int/disabilities/publications/newsletter/newsletter_on_disability_issue_9.pdf