The ILEP Co-ordinator for India, Mr Jeyakumar Daniel, together with representatives of TLM India (Dr. G. Rajan Babu), LEPRA India (Dr. P.V. Ranganadha Rao), and NLR India (Dr. M.A. Arif), recently met with Dr. Samlee Plianbangchang, Regional Director, WHO South East Regional Office.  This meeting was to inform WHO about ILEP activities in India and to share information about future ILEP support to NLEP with a view to combining resources for NLEP and facilitating transparency among partners.

Dr. Samlee Plianbangchang welcomed participants from both WHO and ILEP for the meeting. A detailed presentation was made by Dr Rajan Babu of TLM India.  This was  in three sections covering a briefing about ILEP, present ILEP support to NLEP and the future scope of ILEP support to NLEP for the period 2007-2012.

The proposed continuation of support to NLEP was based on the fact that new cases of leprosy will continue to occur; care is still needed by persons affected by disabilities due to leprosy; and the continuing need to enhance access to comprehensive health care for leprosy affected persons in line with the broader WHO definitions of health.

On this premise, the future support to NLEP is planned taking in to account the lessons learned from previous evaluations, the need for sustaining quality leprosy control activities in line with the WHO Global Strategy, the retention of ownership of the programme by the Government health care system and the synergising of resources through effective partnerships.  ILEP support is envisaged for the following thematic areas:

• Monitoring and supervision


• Capacity Building


• Support to Department for Physical and Medical Rehabilitation (DPMR)


• Operational research


• Support to local NGOs


• Socio-economic rehabilitation and community participation.

Dr. V. K. Pannikar, Head of the WHO Global Leprosy Programme based in Delhi, reported that collaboration between ILEP and WHO has already benefited many country leprosy programmes. He noted that ILEP continues to provide the largest number of expert leprosy workers and has a vast network of Referral centres. The most important recent technical collaboration was the joint development of Operational Guidelines for implementing the WHO Global Strategy for sustained quality leprosy control activities. ILEP is also recognised as one of the largest funders of leprosy work in the world.  He suggested that a coordinated joint plan for ILEP and WHO support at national and state levels should be developed in India.

Two other important points were discussed in detail in the meeting.  

• 1. A National leprosy forum is proposed to be constituted by partners in NLEP to review the progress and needs of the programme and to discuss technical issues.  It was considered that this would also provide a platform to discuss sharing of expertise and resources by all partners to improve implementation of the programme.  Dr. Samlee Plianbangchang suggested a paper with clear terms of reference be prepared for discussion with GOI.
• 2. A tripartite agreement among GOI, WHO and ILEP was discussed at length, so that duplication of support could be avoided. It was suggested by Dr. Samlee Plianbangchang that initially a tripartite working arrangement (coordinated plan) should be developed. He also encouraged ILEP to take the discussions forward with Government of India while suggesting that initial technical collaboration could be taken up between WHO and ILEP.   

Category: International Collaboration