Nigerians affected by leprosy are celebrating today, as the supply of their treatment medication has resumed after a year-long delay.
Thousands of leprosy patients, including over 800 children, have suffered over the last year, as bureaucratic issues halted the supply of the Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT) they desperately need.
But today, medical staff and team at The Leprosy Mission Nigeria have confirmed the World Health Organisation (WHO) efforts to restore MDT supply have succeeded, with medication arriving on site and patients resuming treatment.
“This past year has been incredibly painful for so many people affected by leprosy in Nigeria. I have seen firsthand the fear, distress, and suffering caused by the lack of MDT—people watching their conditions worsen, feeling helpless, and struggling with the stigma that comes with it. While we did everything to encourage the patients to be optimistic, nothing replaces access to life-saving treatment. The return of MDT brings hope, but we cannot allow this to happen again. No one should have to endure such uncertainty and suffering.” – Pius Ogbu Sunday, Head of Programme and Operations, The Leprosy Mission Nigeria.
The Leprosy Mission has continued to treat patients while MDT supply was disrupted, increasing its efforts to provide self-care and wound management training for patients, providing a mental health care hotline to support patients as they dealt with worsening symptoms and related stress, and securing the services of a dermatologist—a rarely available specialist in Nigeria.
Yet MDT are an essential aspect of leprosy treatment, with an extended treatment of various drugs essential for overcoming the bacterium that causes leprosy, Mycobacterium leprae in patients, and ending leprosy transmission in the community.
Without MDT, people affected by leprosy face disfiguring sores and disabilities that can include blindness and paralysis. Social stigma exacerbates the physical challenges people affected by leprosy face.
The supply stockout of MDTs in Nigeria began in early 2024 with new domestic testing regulations on imported medicines holding up one drug component in India. WHO reportedly asked for a one-time waiver of new requirements to restart critical supply.
The supply crisis in Nigeria—Africa’s most populous country— is just one example of a systemic weakness that disrupts and threatens supply of MDT globally that must be resolved to reach the international efforts to achieve zero leprosy transmission by 2030.
