LEPRA Society works with the marginalised groups for promoting health and dignity of the persons affected with Leprosy, Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, Eye care and Malaria. For the disabled as a result of these diseases, we promote integrated programmes through support and rehabilitation. Through our educational programmes, we offer the general population the nature, causes and effects of the diseases to be aware of the worldly issues and development issues. We believe in working hand-in-hand with them for fighting against the disease, stigma and social injustice.
By directing expertise and resources to poor communities, we build on community strengths that will allow families and individuals to lead better lives. Through collaboration with the governments, we extend our reach into most inaccessible villages of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh through out network of projects. Through national and international policy advocacy and research, LEPRA Society pursues programmatic solutions in diagnosing, curing and providing patients with the much-needed timely support, we take pride in having touched the lives nearly 2.billion people
Our Vision:
Lepra Society is a health and development organisation working to restore health, hope and dignity to people affected by leprosy, tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS and other allied diseases, and conditions caused by them.
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Leprosy
LEPRA Society’s core leprosy control activities are carried out as per the guidelines of the National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP) of the government of India and are designed to support the streamlining of systems for integration of leprosy services into the general health services. The organisation is an active participant in the multi-drug therapy (MDT) programme and also offers a comprehensive range of care and support services to leprosy affected persons.
LEPRA Society’s specialised disability management and prevention of disabilities (PoD) services for leprosy affected persons include self-care training, physiotherapy, ulcer dressing, eye care and provision of aids and appliances such as micro-cellular rubber (MCR) footwear.
Our socio-economic rehabilitation (SER) services are intended to help persons affected by leprosy to lead a productive and dignified life. These include old-age pensions, study scholarships, loans (from the government, philanthropists or LEPRA Society), referrals for reconstructive surgery, tools for self-employment, counselling and community-based rehabilitation.
In addition to addressing the needs of the patient, we believe it is important to create awareness in the community to reduce stigma. LEPRA Society therefore carries out Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities and awareness-raising campaigns on all levels, from schools to private practitioners and public officials, public rallies and IEC shows. These activities are intended to raise awareness about leprosy in the community and to promote voluntary reporting of cases.
LEPRA Society also promotes and carries out operational and medical research at the Blue Peter Research Centre in Hyderabad.
Visit Focus Areas for details of our work with leprosy.
Tuberculosis
LEPRA Society’s tuberculosis control activities, which take place alongside leprosy work in most of our direct projects, can be split into four areas; direct participation in service delivery; capacity building; field research and communication and advocacy. We participate in the government-led Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) and run numerous microscopy and sputum collection centres. We work closely with communities affected by TB, for the identification and treatment of patients through voluntary DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment, Short course) providers.
LEPRA Society actively lobbies other local NGOs and private medical practitioners (PMPs) to refer chest symptomatic cases to district medical centres (DMCs) for diagnosis and treatment, to foster effective collaboration between health service providers. Our TB research has focused on a range of issues, including prevalence of TB among prison inmates and primary drug-resistance surveillance.
Visit Focus Areas for details of our work with TB.
Malaria
LEPRA Society is involved in the implementation of the government’s National Anti-Malaria Programme (NAMP) and anti-malaria activity has been included in most of our projects. LEPRA Society’s major areas of involvement in NAMP are:
• Locally specific Information, Education and Communication (IEC) programmes
• Promotion/distribution of insecticide treated bed-nets (ITBN) and repellents
• Vector control programmes
• Capacity building programmes for primary health centres (PHCs) and communities
• Early diagnosis and treatment
• Promoting involvement of community groups
Visit Focus Areas for details of our work with malaria.
HIV/AIDS
After ten years of work in the field of HIV/AIDS, LEPRA Society been recognised by the Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society (APSACS) as a state-level NGO for carrying out government HIV/AIDS programmes and we have also been identified as one of four Indian lead partner by the international HIV/AIDS Alliance and the umbrella organisation/country partner for the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Global AIDS Programme (GAP) in India. In many intervention areas, LEPRA Society stands out as the most active NGO in the field of HIV/AIDS.
Alongside our involvement in dedicated HIV/AIDS projects, most LEPRA Society direct projects now have an explicit HIV/AIDS component. Our projects are currently engaged in the following activities:
• Behaviour change communication & condom promotion
• Diagnostic facilities for HIV
• Provision of anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment
• Counselling
• Support for infected and affected children
• Management of sexually transmitted infections (STI), diseases (STD) and opportunistic infections (OI)
• Advocacy
• Home and community-based care and support
• Promoting linkages with referral services
The involvement of target beneficiaries as volunteers, workers and managers of programmes has been a key achievement in our HIV/AIDS work. LEPRA Society helped to launch and continues to support Cheyutha (which means ‘supporting hand’), a project for care and support to HIV/AIDS affected and infected persons, organised under the banner of the Network of Positive People (NPP+), a community-based organisation set up by people living with HIV/AIDS in Andhra Pradesh.
Visit Focus Areas for details of our work with HIV/AIDS.
Disabilities and Eye Care
Our background of working with PoD and eye care for leprosy affected persons has given LEPRA Society valuable know-how and technical facilities that have proven to be applicable in the treatment of people with disabilities arising from diseases other than leprosy. For example, dedicated eye care facilities have been set up in several states and we are working with Sight Savers International and the state government in Orissa to develop primary eye care screening services in primary health centres, to provide optical dispensing services for correction of refractory errors with spectacles and to carry out annual eye screening programmes in schools.
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YOUNG PEOPLE’S INITIATIVES
This is one of the comprehensive & integrated projects of the HIV-Division of LEPRA, wherein the project is supported by UNICEF through APSACS with the goal that the burden of HIV/AIDS is to be mitigated in the districts of Chittoor, Prakasham, Guntur, Krishna, East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Medak, and Hyderabad with the following objectives:
• Increased capacity of identified NGOs in the target area to prevent the transmission of HIV infections among young and vulnerable population and to facilitate paediatric AIDS care in collaboration with PPTCTC, ICCTC (Integrated Counselling and Confidential testing centre) and all relevant service providers.
• Increased capacity of the Counselors in PPTCTC and ICTC to support /facilitate measures to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS among young people and facilitate paediatric AIDS care.
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