Reviving Leprosy Care Services in Nigeria

Uzuakoli Leprosy Colony, founded in 1931 by Methodist missionaries in the Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, once accommodated more than 800 residents by 1936 and became the leading leprosy centre on the African continent. It pioneered the use of Dapsone, a treatment that discharged thousands of patients symptom‑free.

Since that golden era, the centre has suffered institutional neglect that reflects poorly on the nation. Nigeria reported 2,425 new leprosy cases in 2023, with a Grade 2 disability rate of 10 percent—meaning one in every ten new patients presented at clinics already with visible, permanent deformities that early treatment could have prevented. In the conflict‑torn Northeast, the situation is even more severe: in Adamawa State 87.7 percent of newly diagnosed patients had Grade 2 disability, and in Borno 81 percent. These figures expose a broken detection system. Nationwide, about 9.9 percent of new cases involve children under 15, a statistic that epidemiologists interpret as evidence of ongoing transmission in communities where the disease should now be disappearing.

The Uzuakoli centre has not received government funding since 2009. It survives on charity—donations from faith groups, the Leprosy Mission Nigeria, and German and Belgian NGOs—which cover drugs and limited support but cannot finance rehabilitation, physiotherapy, vocational training, or dignified housing. A 2024 study of leprosy settlements across Nigeria found that 94.3 percent of residents reported very poor quality of life, and 60.4 percent experienced stigma severe enough to affect their daily functioning and livelihoods. Nigeria achieved formal leprosy elimination—defined as fewer than one case per 10,000 population—in 1998, but that milestone was declared and then forgotten, leading to a scaled‑back programme. Today, over 3,500 people are diagnosed annually, approximately 25 percent present with disability, treatment defaulting persists, and the centres meant to restore lives are maintained by missionary goodwill.

Change is necessary. The National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme (NTLCP) must receive adequate funding and staffing, and active case‑finding campaigns should be launched in high‑burden states and conflict‑affected zones where disability rates are a national embarrassment. Uzuakoli and the country’s other 60 settlements—some already non‑functional—must receive direct capital investment, not promises.

Rehabilitation should include skills training, cooperative farming, and microcredit. Patients should not be discharged into communities that will stigmatise them. The 10 percent child case rate must be treated as the emergency it is—a signal that transmission is alive and that a generation is being failed before it begins. Governor Alex Otti’s administration must extend its health reforms to the Uzuakoli Leprosy Centre and set a template worthy of emulation nationwide. Nigeria must reclaim its leading position in leprosy care in Africa.

The post Reviving leprosy care in Nigeria appeared first on Vanguard News.