Neglected Tropical Diseases

Lord Bishop of Peterborough Excerpts

Monday 3rd April 2017 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Bishop of Peterborough]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, for raising this short debate. I rise to highlight the issue of leprosy, and I am also grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, for mentioning that briefly in her contribution.

I also express surprise that the Government seem to be less committed to supporting research into leprosy or the eradication of this terrible scourge than they might be. I suspect that many people think of leprosy purely as a disease of Bible times, but, according to the World Health Organization’s 2016 figures, more than 200,000 people are diagnosed with leprosy every year—10% of them children. There is an effective cure, but many people go untreated, and around 3 million people live with leprosy-related disability.

Leprosy is endemic in 14 countries today, in South Asia, Africa, the Pacific and South America. The complications when it is untreated include severe disfigurement and blindness. But discrimination against leprosy sufferers—some of it by statute in places where leprosy is grounds for divorce, confinement or confiscation of property—makes it a major social problem and a factor in mental illness. Leprosy was listed in the London declaration of 2012 and targeted for eradication by 2020. The Government have made some limited investment in the social aspects of the disease, but none that I can find in the scientific research necessary for eradication. I urge the Minister to include leprosy in the funding priorities for the NTD programme.

There are, of course, other bodies committed to working in this area—I support and commend the work of the Leprosy Mission, for example—but, without government funding, the targets for 2020 are most unlikely to be met.