Imagine trying to stop a fire by finding the smallest sparks before they spread. Instead of waiting for sick people to visit a clinic, teams go directly into villages to check everyone's skin and give a single preventive dose of medicine to those at risk. This helps find cases much faster and prevents permanent disability across large populations.
High case detection delays in leprosy lead to permanent disability and continued transmission. Current health-centre-based screening is often inaccessible to high-risk populations in rural Africa.
A two-arm implementation trial comparing community-based skin camps (screening 100 contacts per case) versus health-centre-based screening.
If you are a drug manufacturer dealing with unpredictable demand for rifampicin in emerging markets — this project developed a scalable delivery model that has already administered SDR-PEP to 20,356 contacts. This provides a clear roadmap for volume forecasting and distribution logistics.
If you are a software company dealing with low healthcare worker capacity in rural areas — this project utilized mHealth apps to organize skin camps and track 22,563 screened contacts. This proves the viability of digital tools for managing large-scale field screenings.
If you are an NGO dealing with high case detection delays in endemic regions — this project developed a community-based 'skin camp' model that screened 100 contacts per index case. This increases the efficiency of finding new leprosy cases compared to traditional clinic-based methods.
Based on available project data, the project is currently collecting data on cost-effectiveness and modelling long-term economic impact to determine the most efficient screening method.
The project is testing scalability by comparing community-based camps against health-centre-based screening across three different countries (Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Tanzania).
Based on available project data, there is no mention of intellectual property or licensing; the focus is on implementation research and evidence-based strategies.
The intervention follows World Health Organization (WHO) guidance for administering single-dose rifampicin post-exposure prophylaxis (SDR-PEP).
The project period runs from 2024-04-01 to 2026-03-31, with significant enrolment milestones already reached by March 2025.
The consortium consists of 6 partners across 5 countries, characterized by a total absence of industrial partners (0%). It is led by a non-governmental organization (NEDERLANDSE STICHTING VOOR LEPRABESTRIJDING) and supported by 2 universities and 2 research institutions, indicating a strong academic and field-implementation focus rather than a commercial one.
Contact the Nederlandse Stichting voor Leprabestrijding for implementation data.
Request a detailed analysis of the mHealth tools used in these skin camps.
