Who we are

Leprosy has been a stigmatising disease for centuries. Pictures of people affected by leprosy often have the most severe aspects of the disease displayed without their stories. We want to improve this through the New Face for Leprosy project, showing people affected by leprosy experiencing normal life, working and having a family. Affected people have told us stories about their lives to challenge the negative notions of having leprosy. We started working with affected people in Ethiopia and India. Their voices are paramount. They have narratives of the trials they have overcome and messages of hope, reassuring other affected people that they can have jobs and families. We have given talks, displayed the photos and published in medical journals. We hope to develop this work further in other countries.
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Diana
Lockwood

LEPROLOGIST
LONDON

Diana has worked in leprosy for 35 years. She became interested when she was a medical student and visited Dichpalli hospital, Andhra Pradesh, India in 1975. She trained in medicine and specialised in leprosy. She worked as a clinician researcher in India and Ethiopia. She was a staff member at the Hospital for Tropical Disease, London and The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She aimed to improve patient clinical outcomes. She learnt of the stigma her patients affected by leprosy faced. Her campaign “A new Face for Leprosy” creates a more positive image for leprosy, through stories and images from leprosy patients in Ethiopia and India. She blogs about her work and travels. She has cycled across Tibet and 4 other continents

Tom
Bradley

PHOTOGRAPHER
UK

Tom Bradley is a photographer based predominantly in London but working world over, mainly in South Asia and west and central Africa. Largely self-taught he later attended Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in Dhaka, Bangladesh for their International Photography Programme in 2015/2016, and then subsequently returned in 2017/2018 as the International Programme Coordinator.


He has photographed leprosy since 2009 across 13 countries so far, working both independently and for several leprosy-affiliated organisations (ALM, effect:hope, Novartis Foundation, TLM, NLR, DAHW, Fontilles, NLT etc). He intends to explore and comprehend this topic for the rest of his life. You can find daily posts of his work on his Instagram and his Website.

Saba
Lambert

LEPROLOGIST
ETHIOPIA

Saba, who has strong Ethiopian roots, lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She is a clinician looking after patients affected by leprosy and a researcher looking at ways of improving their care.

Leprosy, an ancient disease, recorded in many Ethiopian historical documents, carries a very heavy social burden. The stigma, and the belief that it is an inherited disease or a punishment for God, push people with signs of leprosy into hiding their condition. This delays the diagnosis and treatment, causing so much disability. She hopes the New Face of Leprosy will be a tool to fight stigma and share stories of the brave people who have fought the stigma and made their lives ordinary. She hopes this will encourage a whole new generation of people affected by leprosy to seek early care, to live their lives fully and that their friends and families will be there to support them.

Events

World Leprosy Day 2019 Gondar

Gondar - Ethiopia -2019

We celebrated World Leprosy Day 2019, in Gondar, Ethiopia. We joined the celebratory march around the town with people affected by leprosy from all over Ethiopia. The opening exhibition of the photos taken in Ethiopia (by Dr Alex Kumar) were displayed in the entrance hall of the City Hall and were admired by leprosy patients, people working for leprosy NGOs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Affairs and the local media. Saba presented in Amharic and English the interwoven stories of the courageous men and women who had volunteered to be photographed and share their life stories, in the hope of encouraging others. Birke, a woman in her 60s who has championed patients’ right and leads a co- operative for women affected by leprosy stopped quietly in front of her portrait for a while before beaming: “I did not know we are so beautiful!” Some of the pictures were published in the Lancet.

Diana’ Retirement Festschrift

LSHTM - London

Diana’s 35-year medical career as a clinician and researcher was celebrated with talks by students and colleagues from her work at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and attended by her predecessor Michael Waters. Her work in linking leprosy centres across the world to improve patient outcomes was described by Steve Walker, Edessa Gobena and David Scollard. Professor Chris Whitty mentioned the mentoring she had given him.

Much work remains to be done in leprosy, especially in tackling stigma. Diana’s lifelong experiences have inspired her to do just this in her retirement by starting the New face for Leprosy project.

New Face for Leprosy
20th World Leprosy Congress

MANILA - 2019

Saba and Diana gave one of the penultimate speech at the Congress in Manila. We talked about needing new images for leprosy with pictures and stories. People were enthusiastic about this new approach to depicting leprosy, including patient representatives and Alice Cruz, UN  Special Rapporteur on the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members who shared the platform with us.

New Face at East African RSTMH Research meeting 2019

Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College - Moshi - Tanzania

WWe introduced the “New Face for Leprosy” project in a guest lecture at the East African RSTMH Research meeting in Tanzania September 2019. There were 300 delegates: junior researchers and medical doctors from African countries, and international students on the East African Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene course. Many people were interested to hear about this new approach to reducing stigma. We hope we inspired a new generation of doctors and scientists to look beyond the medical problem of their patients and find ways to encourage them when they are faced with stigmatising diseases.

The Regional Dermatology Training Center at KCMC does important work on stigma related to skin diseases as albinism and xeroderma pigmentosum.

Houses of Parliament reception

House of Lords - Westminster - london

This was hosted by Lepra and we spoke about the need for a new image for leprosy to reduce the stigmatisation of the disease.  About 70 people attended the event and we had a display of photos from the New Face work done in India 2019.

New Face photo exhibition

LSHTM - LONDON - 2020

Tom and Diana told the story of the New Face project and the work in India Nov 2019. These stories showcase that when given their diagnosis, many of those affected by leprosy felt despondent and even suicidal and did not wish to share their diagnosis. However, after treatment they had positive messages about the curative nature of the antibiotics and the support of staff from the referral centres and other patients.

For women, in particular, this is important as they suffer double jeopardy due to their fear of their own position, but they also worry about their daughters and the challenges in having a marriage arranged for them. Nevertheless, the New Faces Gallery showcases how these women are strong people that overcame their diagnosis and the problems it bought. The event was a great success and we would like to give a particular mention to Professor Dianna Lockwood who attended the event and has been associated with leprosy for over 30 years through links with the Blue Peter Public Health and Leprosy Research Clinic in Hyderabad and was recently awarded an emeritus title from the LSHTM. Professor Lockwood was also the editor of Leprosy Review, from 1996 until 2012, and she holds the world record among leprologist as she has patients from 35 different countries.

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