Nigeria to receive leprosy drugs to tackle 'strange painful situation'

The World Health Organization says it is sending leprosy drugs to Nigeria this weekend after resolving testing hold-ups that led to a year-long delay in thousands of patients, including children, getting the medicine they need to prevent disability.

Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria reports over 1,000 cases of leprosy yearly, a disease caused by a bacterium, Mycobacterium leprae, and mainly affecting the skin, peripheral nerves, and eyes.

It is curable with multi-drug therapy, but without treatment, the disease progresses and causes disfiguring sores and disabilities like blindness and paralysis. Patients also face significant stigma.

But Nigeria ran out of stock of the multi-drug therapy in early 2024 as a bureaucratic delay in supplies and new domestic testing regulations on imported medicines held up the drugs in India, where one of the components is made.

Nigeria’s leprosy burden

The delay, which caused significant suffering in Nigeria, is just one example of the vulnerability of a global system that has seen stockouts in countries including India, Brazil and Indonesia in recent years, the UN special rapporteur for leprosy told Reuters news agency.

A WHO spokesperson told Reuters that Nigeria had run out of leprosy medications, and the UN health agency, which organises shipments of the drug, had asked for a one-time waiver on the new testing policy. In January that waiver was granted.

"A dispatch of leprosy drugs from India has been confirmed for 8 March, with arrival in Nigeria on 9 March," the spokesperson said by email.

WHO data shows that Nigeria is one of 12 countries reporting between 1,000 to 10,000 cases annually, behind Brazil, India and Indonesia. Each country requests leprosy doses, a capsular medication, administered over a period of 12 months, from the WHO every year.

‘Strange painful situation’

Health sources said Nigeria's request was late. Nigeria's National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control did not respond to a request for comment.

But health sector sources said Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control required additional testing for doses.

The drugs are manufactured in India. The drugs were submitted for testing in Nigeria in November, and got approval in December 2024.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members, Beatriz Miranda-Galarza, told Reuters that "while the MDT (multi-drug therapy) distribution system appears well-structured on paper, in practice, it faces significant structural and political challenges."

Sunday Udoh, head of non-profit Leprosy Mission Nigeria added: "This is the first time we are seeing this kind of very strange, very painful situation where leprosy patients who belong to the poorest of the poor are not able to access this life-saving medication."