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LepraNews
Winter 2014
Our new project in Bangladesh
The project will take place in one of the poorest areas of Bangladesh where rates of disabling diseases are high and employment opportunities are few. Disability is both a cause and a consequence of poverty, affecting entire households through increased expenditure on care and loss of household income. People with disabilities are often marginalised in society and excluded from decision-making processes, even those which affect their own lives. Lepra will face this challenge by working with over 22,000 people affected by physical disability, including leprosy and elephantiasis related disability. The project will improve livelihood opportunities through skills training and business grants, reducing poverty for whole families. The project will also provide much needed disability services in health centres such as physiotherapy, ulcer care and corrective treatment for children born with clubfoot: services which are currently completely absent within the general health
system in Bangladesh. We will pioneer an integrated approach to disability care by combining services for leprosy as well as elephantiasis and other disabilities, whilst at the same time ensuring that these services are sustained in the long term by operating them in partnership with the government health service.
7
Ninety years
Lepra is delighted to have been approved for funding of a new project from the UK government Department for International Development. The project will focus on providing a comprehensive approach to increasing social inclusion and reducing poverty of people living with disabilities, as well as improving leprosy services, in three districts in Bangladesh.
www.lepra.org.uk
of leading the way
1924 1923
31st January The British Empire Leprosy Association (BELRA) was launched at Mansion House, London. Philanthropist Sir Frank Carter provided the funds to put the Association’s plan into action. HRH The Prince of Wales became Patron and Lord Chelmsford, retiring Viceroy of India, was the first Chairman of the committee which also included other eminent people from Commonwealth countries.
Learning about improving livelihoods
The project will also help groups of people with disabilities to form an advocacy and support network. This will give them a voice with which to demand their rights to employment, health services and other social and welfare services and increase their participation in their communities. The project will also benefit an additional 18,000 people through improved leprosy services in an effort to reduce the number of newly diagnosed people who develop disabilities.
Major General Sir Leonard Rogers, ex-Indian Medical Service, agreed to join Rev. Frank Oldrieve in forming a new Association. Rev. Oldrieve had conceived a plan to fight leprosy, starting with the folk cure of Chaulmoogra oil.
The Reverend P B “Tubby” Clayton, vicar of All Hallows by the Tower, London, met people with leprosy in Nigeria, which fired his enthusiasm for tackling the disease. Also founder of Toc H, an international charity, his call for volunteers brought over 300 lay workers.
1937
It is very encouraging to have gained recognition from the UK government that leprosy and disability remain serious barriers to development and efforts to reduce poverty and that people with disabilities must be put first in international development.
October-The first edition of the BELRA Quarterly magazine was published. Rights awareness in a self-help group
1952
1933
1945
Trials of Dapsone treatment started in India. In 1948 Dapsone was announced as a cheap and effective cure for leprosy. In 2014, it is used as part of multi-drug therapy for leprosy infections.
Our mobile exhibition van started to tour the UK, promoting our work. Two years later, the Association’s short title changed to Lepra.
1962 ars . Fo u r y e A R L E B f d Pa t r o n o h e v is it e became n e e u burgh, s Q in d e E h T f o HM he Duke ig e r ia h HRH T e n t in N it m w le t r, t e e t S la rosy iv e r L e p t h e O ji R
1959 At Ongino Leprosarium, Uganda, the first made-to-measure shoe was tried out to take the pressure off ulcerated feet. This had a wooden sole and rubber insole made from car tyres.