Global strategy meets field expertise in control of skin neglected tropical diseases

Collaboration

Two WHO collaborating centres in Brazil working on leprosy, the Instituto Lauro de Souza Lima and the Fundação Hospitalar Alfredo da Matta, have contributed to the Global Leprosy Strategy 2021-2030 with highly specialized technical expertise in skin-related neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Experts from the institutes facilitated capacity-building trainings and workshops for health personnel, including physicians and laboratory technicians, focused on improving the detection and diagnosis of leprosy and other skin NTDs such as cutaneous leishmaniasis, sporotrichosis among other dermatological conditions of public health relevance.

Their contribution was particularly valuable in bringing advanced clinical and laboratory expertise, practical case-based training methods,updated diagnostic algorithms and laboratory protocols, and hands-on mentoring during field activities and dermatological campaigns.

WHO complemented this by providing strategic coordination and ensuring alignment with regional and global frameworks, using its convening role to mobilize Ministries of Health and partners, and embedding the work within broader neglected tropical disease and communicable-disease elimination strategies. WHO also ensured systematic monitoring and documentation so activities remained consistent with organizational standards and reporting mechanisms.

This combination of normative leadership and operational technical expertise created a strong, mutually reinforcing collaboration.

Contributions

The centres' technical capacity at country level, accelerated progress toward elimination targets and strengthened credibility and responsiveness to national requests.

This collaboration also allowed for improved regional coordination and harmonization of approaches. While WHO could have coordinated activities on its own, implementation would have been far more limited and much of the work would have remained theoretical rather than operationally effective.

The collaboration also produced benefits at community level by enabling earlier detection, shorter diagnostic delays and improved referral pathways between primary care and specialist services.

A key insight was the value of integrated skin screenings, combining multiple dermatological conditions in a single approach reduced stigma and improved service uptake, reinforcing the effectiveness of using the skin as an entry point for NTD control.

Knowledge transfer

Through a set of subregional and national trainings, workshops, health campaigns and technical cooperation implemented by the centres, countries in the Region of the Americas were able to reinforce their diagnostic capacity for early detection of leprosy and other skin-related NTDs.

These activities improved laboratory confirmation and case management, helped standardize training materials in line with WHO guidelines, and increased awareness among frontline health workers of integrated approaches to skin NTDs.

The centres also fostered stronger regional networks among clinicians and laboratory professionals, creating a more cohesive technical community across countries.

These results directly supported WHO's programme objectives by accelerating early detection and contributing to the interruption of transmission, advancing progress toward the targets of the WHO NTD Road Map, and helping countries move closer to elimination milestones.

They also promoted the broader shift toward integrated, skin-based approaches to NTD detection, ensuring that national programmes are better equipped to identify and manage multiple conditions through a unified platform.

The collaboration offers several avenues for expansion, particularly by extending integrated skin NTD approaches to more countries and developing regional training curricula available in multilingual digital platforms. There is also scope to deepen operational research on early detection and strengthen laboratory networks.