GPZL Working group 1 assesses challenges and a path forward for leprosy during COVID-19

Introduction The Leprosy Emergency Operations Committee (LEOC) was formed to assess and resolve pandemic-related challenges of national leprosy programmes. The LEOC aimed to develop a platform for enhancing information sharing, assessing and monitoring the situation in national leprosy programmes, and facilitating the resolution of pandemic-related operational challenges. The LEOC aimed to link experts to address potential needs, assess how to support information needs of national programme managers, and liaise with two other GPZL working groups to exchange information. Methodology The LEOC held 8 meetings from April to August 2020. It facilitated an exchange on the impacts of COVID-19 on MDT supply to compliment the work of WHO and Novartis. Two surveys offered insights from technical experts and experts in the field to better understand distribution during the pandemic. SURVEY TO NATIONAL LEPROSY PROGRAMME MANAGERS The LEOC surveyed national leprosy programme managers to understand their immediate needs and assess their use of a WHO-GPZL-ILEP guidance document on leprosy-related activities during the first months of the pandemic.1 The WHO Global Leprosy Programme sent the survey to 222 countries and territories, of which 34 countries, including 10 highpriority countries, responded. The LEOC worked with respondents and countries that did not respond, such as India, to resolve operational challenges. SURVEY TO NGOS AND CSOS The LEOC created a second survey, which reached ILEP members working in endemic countries with a request to forward it to other Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in countries. Twenty-six organizations from 12 countries responded to the NGO/CSO survey. LEOC members identified distribution issues in the survey responses and followed up with NGOs/CSOs. Results SURVEY TO NATIONAL LEPROSY PROGRAMME MANAGERS Seventy-six percent of respondents (26 countries) said the outbreak was impacting their programme.