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Each month, we share our progress, next steps, and profiles of the people involved in the Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy (GPZL).
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GPZL at the International Leprosy Congress
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The Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy (GPZL) was well represented at the International Leprosy Congress in Manila, Philippines in September. GPZL’s participation included the presentation of the partnership’s country model and the model’s recent implementation in Nepal, the launch of GPZL’s new best practices toolkit, and a demonstration of the toolkit.
Secretariat Director, Courtenay Dusenbury, attended the International Leprosy Congress and documented her time in Manila. View her photo slideshow to learn more about the partnership’s involvement in the congress and Courtenay’s experience in Manila.
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Featured Tools from the Zero Leprosy Toolkit
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This month we're featuring two tools from our recently released Zero Leprosy Toolkit:
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Involvement of General Health Care (GHC) Staff in Implementation of Leprosy PostExposure Prophylaxis (LPEP)
Leprosy post-exposure prophylaxis (LPEP) has been proven to be an effective intervention, but requires involvement from a variety of health care staff. This best practice describes the LPEP project that was implemented in Dadra and Nagar Haveli (DNH) in India from April 2015 to June 2018. Download this best practice and learn how local general healthcare staff, the state leprosy officer, medical officers, and community volunteers who were accredited social health activists (ASHAs) were involved from the beginning and throughout the project to help ensure sustainability of project activities and buy-in for scale-up.
See all best practices related to
LPEP here: https://zeroleprosy.org/subtheme/pep/
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Leprosy/NTD Clinics in an Integrated Health Set-up
Hospitals in leprosy-endemic countries have proportionately much higher loads of non-leprosy than leprosy patients, and doctors do not manage enough cases to build significant leprosy clinical experience. This is leading to a loss of leprosy expertise and to less attention given to leprosy as a disease. Having leprosy or neglected tropical disease (NTD) clinics within integrated health set-ups gives healthcare staff rotating in the clinics the opportunity to see a number of leprosy patients with different clinical presentations and to learn from managing and following the cases, thereby effectively ensuring leprosy clinical expertise is built, retained, and transferred.
Learn how Lalgadh Leprosy Hospital & Services Centre (LLHSC) in Nepal successfully started its own
leprosy clinic here: https://zeroleprosy.org/zl_toolkit/leprosy-ntd-clinics-in-an-integrated-health-set-up-nepal/
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PEP Research and Practice Workshop
Leprosy Research Initiative (LRI), NLR, and the Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy (GPZL) are organizing a workshop in Amsterdam in November 2019 to discuss issues related to PEP, including:
- The creation of protocols for PEP implementation in countries with different levels of endemicity.
- Preparing proposal outlines addressing key questions on PEP.
The protocols and other key ideas developed in this meeting will be used by GPZL and partners to develop funding proposals. Outcomes of this meeting will be shared in December's newsletter.
This meeting is by invitation only.
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Country Model Update: Morocco
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This week the partnership is in Morocco to conduct a country review. The review was requested by the Moroccan National Leprosy Programme, headed by Dr. Ibtissam Khoudri. The country review will take stock of the programme's current status and define key priorities for the future.
You can learn more about the Moroccan National Leprosy Programme and Dr. Khoudri in this profile from May: https://zeroleprosy.org/dr-ibtissam-khoudri/.
GPZL offers support to national programmes through a unique country model approach. If you are a national programme manager and are interested in this support, please visit our Expression of Interest form.
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GPZL's Action Framework
The GPZL Leadership Team discussed and revised the Action Framework during its meeting on 9 September in Manila. The framework lays out an action plan for how the GPZL’s partners and members will work together to achieve WHO’s global zero leprosy targets 2020-2030.
The GPZL will work at the invitation of national ministries of health/national programme directors, in partnership with WHO, in 25 priority countries. Efforts will be tailored to the needs identified by the leadership of each country, but may include conducting a program evaluation (using the GPZL Country Model), facilitating a discussion about national priorities, and developing a National Roadmap/Partnership for Zero Leprosy. GPZL partners will support the national priorities identified in the National Road Map, and the GPZL Toolkit will be used to identify and implement best practices. The GPZL will seek additional donors, so that a comprehensive and well-coordinated effort is developed in support of national goals and targets. This method, used successfully by numerous other global partnerships, is intended to lead to substantive forward progress. Peer-to-peer engagement is key to the success of this effort.
All partners expressed that they are fully supportive of this approach. The Action Framework will continue to be revised through the end of October. An implementation plan for the framework will be developed during a meeting from 9-10 December in Basel, Switzerland, with strategic planning and facilitation provided pro bono from technical experts at Novartis. The meeting will include ILEP implementers, national programme directors, people impacted by leprosy, Novartis, WHO, the Sasakawa Health Foundation and others. The implementation framework will allow the GPZL to estimate costs for the 10-year effort, as well as the specific roles and responsibilities of partners. Terms of reference will be developed to formalize the path forward.
Your comments and suggestions on the framework are welcomed. Please address them to Secretariat Director, Courtenay Dusenbury, at cdusenbury@taskforce.org.
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PEP Research and Practice Workshop
4-7 November 2019 | Amsterdam, Netherlands
Leprosy Research Initiative (LRI), NLR, and the Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy (GPZL) are organizing a workshop in Amsterdam in November 2019 to discuss issues related to PEP, including: the creation of protocols for PEP implementation in countries with different levels of endemicity, and preparing proposal outlines addressing key questions on PEP.
This meeting is by invitation only.
2019 COR-NTD Meeting
18-19 November 2019 | Maryland, USA
The Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (COR-NTD) is a group of researchers, program implementers and their in-country partners with the shared goal of optimizing NTD control and elimination. COR-NTD meets formally each year in conjunction with the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference, with participation from researchers, the World Health Organization, country program managers, implementers, and donors. Working groups comprised of NTD experts from a wide range of backgrounds conduct discussions at the annual COR-NTD meeting and throughout the year on key themes, providing important guidance on the NTD research agenda. For registration and more details, visit the website.
ASTMH 68th Annual Meeting
20-24 November 2019 | Maryland, USA
The ASTMH Annual Meeting is a five-day educational conference that draws tropical medicine and global health professionals representing academia, government, non-profits, philanthropy, NGOs, industry, military and private practice. The meeting is designed for researchers, professors, government and public health officials, military personnel, travel clinic physicians, practicing physicians in tropical medicine, students and all health care providers working in the fields of tropical medicine, hygiene and global health. For registration and more details, visit the website.
Our online calendar lists global leprosy events and meetings. Are you hosting a meeting related to leprosy? Let us know by completing the contact form.
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Working together towards zero leprosy: join the partnership
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Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy | www.zeroleprosy.org
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