Persons affected by leprosy and the COVID-19 global health crisis: a consultative calls report from GPZL's emergency response Working Group 2

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted leprosy control and prevention and persons affected by leprosy. The Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy (GPZL) established emergency response working groups in April 2020 to address key challenges during the pandemic. The Emergency Response Working Group Two organized regional calls for persons affected and representative organizations to identify their needs and challenges. Data compiled in this report reflects the generous contributions of persons affected. The Emergency Response Working Group Two is grateful for their assistance and recognizes the call participants as creators of this report. The appendix lists the organizations of persons affected that contributed to these calls. Summary The objective of the consultative calls was to identify specific needs and challenges of persons affected by leprosy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following issues were raised on a consistent basis: access to health care, fundamental goods, government support, stable livelihoods, information about COVID-19, and challenges due to intersecting vulnerabilities. Methods The Emergency Response Working Group Two conducted seven consultative calls with individuals and organizations of persons affected, from April to May 2020, speaking with over 100 individuals from more than 25 organizations from 22 different countries. The first six calls were organized by region. To increase representation of women’s voices, the final call was for women affected. Guiding questions explored the access to services, information, and fundamental goods, populations that are more vulnerable to the impact of COVID-19, the current reality in Hansen’s disease settlements, and communication strategies. Each call was facilitated by a person affected on Zoom. Results COVID-19 IMPACT ON ACCESS TO LEPROSY-RELATED HEALTH SERVICES © The author(s). © 2020, Lepra. All rights reserved.