Within the leprosy sector, governments are a crucial and necessary partner on our journey to a world without leprosy. But what is expected from governments?

We need to put persons affected by leprosy at the centre of all of these conversations. It is not a magic answer, a silver bullet that will solve all our problems, but it is the only way we’ll make real progress.

When we represented the leprosy community before the UN for the first time in November 2017, little did we know the incredible impact it would go on to have in the lives of people affected by leprosy.

As we move closer to the day when leprosy is a thing of the past, each passing year brings with it major milestones - these are some of the biggest of 2023

Are we still on course to achieve our goal of zero transmission by 2035? In short, yes.

Tharshika was diagnosed with leprosy as a child. Now an adult, Tharshika supports children affected by leprosy through her work with our partner in Sri Lanka, KKM.

We believe we can end the transmission of the disease by 2035 and one of the crucial new tools to help us achieve this is PEP (Post-Exposure Prophylaxis).

The TLM Myanmar team found that the best way to raise awareness, defeat stigma, and increase the number of leprosy cases they found was to hear the stories of persons affected by leprosy.

At the UN's major disability rights conference in June 2021, we heard from several persons affected by leprosy who spoke powerfully about their experiences.

In some places Covid-19 has slowed down the work, in other places it has completely stopped the work.