WHO/ILEP technical guide on community based rehabilitation and leprosy

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations (ILEP) are pleased to announce the publication of the WHO/ILEP Technical guide on community-based rehabilitation and leprosy.Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) is recognized as a key strategy for social inclusion, aimed at overcoming stigma, activity limitations and participation restrictions, and improving the quality of life of people with disabilities. As such, it is an approach which is highly relevant to the rehabilitation of people affected by leprosy.This technical guide describes the strategies and tasks of CBR as the appropriate response to the needs of individuals, families and communities affected by leprosy. It will prove a useful re-orientation and familiarization tool for managers, trainers and supervisors in leprosy control or rehabilitation programmes responsible for introducing and managing CBR. It may also be used by CBR managers to include people affected by leprosy in their programmes. It describes the broad objectives of CBR, the roles and tasks of programme managers, and the responsibilities of community workers who have daily contact with people affected by leprosy, their families and community members. The guide recommends approaches reported to be effective, but avoids prescribing these methods in all situations.Although ILEP has contributed to WHO publications in the past, this is the first joint collaboration on a resource such as this. This is a very positive result of the closer links forged through ILEP’s renewed official relations status with WHO. As with other ILEP publications, field-based colleagues are encouraged to consider printing this Guide locally if they require larger quantities; ILEP will provide print ready materials for this purpose. Printing resources locally has proven to be a cheaper and more efficient way of maximizing circulation and usage