Castries, St. Lucia, and Bridgetown, Barbados, 17th June 2025 (PAHO) – Two PAHO Member States have a clearer path toward leprosy elimination following missions by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
A two-day mission from June 16th to 17th in St. Lucia, hosted in conjunction with Instituto Lauro de Souza Lima (the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Leprosy based in Brazil), brought together officials of the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs to engage in several activities designed to achieve the following objectives.
- To assess Saint Lucia’s progress toward the elimination of leprosy as a public health problem
- To review the current surveillance systems, clinical management protocols, and laboratory capacity related to leprosy
- To identify priority actions and technical support needs to strengthen leprosy control and facilitate verification of elimination
While in St. Lucia, the PAHO team met with Medical Officer Dr. Glensford Joseph, Epidemiologist Dr. Michelle Francois, the national leprosy focal point Dr. Keturah Edwin-Tobias, and other officials, to discuss the country’s case data, clinical follow-up practices, and coordination challenges between departments. This was followed by a briefing with Permanent Secretary Dr. Jenny Daniel.
A site visit to one of the clinics which manages leprosy cases presented the PAHO team with an opportunity to review past and current patient records to assess case investigation, documentation quality, and follow-up procedures.
Digitization of leprosy surveillance data was discussed with the Health Management Information Unit, as well as the utilisation of DHIS-2 platform which allows for the collection, management and analyzing of health information.
A clinical demonstration brought together polyclinic nurses and laboratory staff to review specimen collection. Protocols for consistency in techniques were also examined.
When the PAHO team visited Barbados, activities there included a meeting with the Deputy Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Dr. Arthur Philips. The PAHO team also conducted training of clinical and laboratory professionals and examined patients at the Winston Scott Polyclinic and visited the Best Dos Santos Public Health Laboratory to conduct demonstrations.
The leprosy situation in St. Lucia and Barbados is as follows. St. Lucia recorded an increase in leprosy cases in early 2023. Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 11 new cases, which represented a 120% increase from 2020 to 2023. As Barbados has only reported two cases since 2020, the nation is considered well on its way to eliminating leprosy on its current path.
PAHO/WHO Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Countries (ECC), Dr. Amalia Del Riego, described the missions as very productive. “As the PAHO team plans the way forward, we are committed to collaborating with the Ministry of Health to eliminate leprosy as a public health concern. We will continue to provide the technical expertise to increase the capacity of Ministry personnel as we work toward the elimination not only of leprosy, but numerous other diseases in our Member States by 2030, as part of our Elimination Initiative.”
