Heroes and Heroines of 20th Century Leprosy Work in India (2025)

Lobo D.A., Gupte M.D. (Juggernaut Books, New Delhi, India) 2025. 320 Pages. Price: Not mentioned.

ISBN: 978-9-35-345994-9

The book ‘Heroes and Heroines of 20th Century Leprosy Work in India’ is dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi and has, as the first chapter, the contributions of Mahatma Gandhi, who motivated and inspired many of the heroes and heroines described in the book to dedicate their life to the care of leprosy patients, their rehabilitation, elimination of the stigma and discrimination they faced.

The foreword by the chairman of Sasakawa India Leprosy Foundation provides the perspective of multidimensional problems associated with leprosy over centuries, a significant decline in the prevalence of leprosy in the second half of the last century and the urgent need to complete the unfinished task of leprosy elimination.

The two authors of the book are Dr. Derek A. Lobo, who has spent all his professional life providing care of leprosy patients in India, Africa and globally, and Dr. Mohan D. Gupte, an epidemiologist who undertook research studies on multidrug therapy for leprosy in the 1970s, documented changing epidemiology of leprosy in India and undertook leprosy vaccine trials in Tamil Nadu.

In the prologue, Dr. Lobo describes how, in the first half of the twentieth century, the tragic health and social consequences of leprosy made people from many countries and walks of life dedicate their lives to providing care to leprosy patients and alleviating their suffering. National leaders Gandhiji and Vinoba Bhave provided compassionate services to people afflicted by leprosy, and through their example, tried to minimise the fear and stigma associated with leprosy. Some heroes were leprosy patients who dedicated their lives to the care of leprosy patients; some were eminent surgeons who devised innovative surgical techniques and devoted their time and skills for the correction of deformities in leprosy patients; others were scientists who devoted their entire research careers to develop early diagnostic tests, effective curative therapy and an effective vaccine to prevent leprosy. These heroes built institutions and, in these institutions, supported the next generation of heroes devoted to the prevention, early diagnosis, management and eventual elimination of leprosy.

The book is organized into chapters, giving a summary of the contributions of individuals, institutions and programmes to the steep decline in the prevalence and incidence of leprosy in the last century. In the chapter on British leprologists, the life and contributions of three pioneers, Dr(s) Rogers, Muir and Cochrane, are presented. The chapter on Indian leprologists is, as expected, long and features the contributions of many distinguished Indian leprologists: Dr(s) Santra, Dharmendra, Wardekar, Ekambaram, Desikan, Ramu, Noordeen, Ganapati, Iyer, Christian, C.K. Rao, Dongre and Ramanujam.

The chapter on foreigners who contributed to leprosy work provides a glimpse of the life and contribution of pioneers: Father Augustus Muller, the missionary who spent his entire life in developing and supporting an asylum in Mangalore where leprosy patients could live with dignity; Sr. Marie Denise and Dr. Elisabeth Vomstien, providing care through the Leprosy Relief Rural Centre in Chettipatti, Tamil Nadu; Father Mike Kavanagh and Father Larry Hunt who established Damien Social Welfare Centre, Dhanbad, for care of leprosy patients; Claire Vellut, the leprologist, humanist and Founder of the Damien Foundation of India which provided treatment and rehabilitation services to patients with leprosy and tuberculosis; Gerhard Fischer, a diplomat and humanitarian striving across countries to bring about attitudinal change towards leprosy patients, who was awarded Gandhi Peace Prize for his work in India; and Dr. Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of The Nippon Foundation, Japan, who received the International Gandhi Award for his contributions to global and Indian efforts for improving access to drugs for treatment of leprosy and accelerating the progress towards leprosy elimination.

Crippling deformities are one of the major manifestations of leprosy, a cause of the stigma associated with leprosy and limits the patients’ ability to earn their livelihood. The chapter devoted to pioneer reconstructive surgeons begins with Dr. Paul Brand, the father of the leprosy reconstruction surgery who had worked and trained many surgeons in Vellore and Karigiri, Dr. Ernest Fritschi, who was mentored by Dr. Brand, Dr. Srinivasan, an orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Palande, a general surgeon, and Dr. Thangaraj, who spent most of their life in treating deformed hands and feet of leprosy patients in Tamil Nadu. Dr. Mehta, in Pune and Dr. Antia, in Mumbai, worked both on the reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation of leprosy patients.

The social stigma associated with leprosy for millennia has been a major factor responsible for the suffering endured by leprosy patients. Many Indian social workers were inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s example and spent their lifetime alleviating the suffering of leprosy patients and their families. The chapter on pioneer social workers involved in the care of leprosy patients includes the life and work done by Shri Manohar Diwan, Prof. Jagadisan, Mother Teresa, Dr. Gopal, Prof. Mutatkar and Shri Mehendale.

The road to leprosy elimination lies through research aimed at developing effective vaccines for prevention, reliable tests for early diagnosis of leprosy, effective drugs for the treatment of infection and prevention and management of deformities. Dr(s) Khanolkar, Job, V.M. Katoch, Kiran Katoch and Arunthathi are the research workers featured in the chapter on prominent leprosy research workers.

Eminent leprologists established institutions dedicated to different aspects of care for leprosy patients and guided, supported and mentored people in these institutions to develop special skills and aptitude to tackle problems associated with leprosy. A chapter is devoted to the contributions made by such institutions, including the School of Tropical Medicine, Calcutta, Central Leprosy Teaching and Research Institute, Central Jalma Institute for Leprosy, Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation and Scheffelin Institute of Health-Research and Leprosy. The chapter also includes a summary of the evolution and impact of the National Leprosy Eradication Programme and is followed by a chapter on organizations involved in the care of leprosy patients in India.

The epilogue written by Dr. Mohan Gupte summarizes the substantial achievement in leprosy control over the last five decades and the challenges ahead. Globally, there has been a steep reduction in the number of registered leprosy cases from 5 million in 1980 to 133,802 (prevalence rate of 0.17/10,000 ) in 2021. Leprosy is no longer a public health problem in most countries, but about 60 per cent of the reported global cases are from India.

Under the National Leprosy Elimination Programme, India has set the target of zero transmission of leprosy by 2027. In India, new cases are detected in young children even now, suggesting that leprosy transmission does exist. With a progressive reduction in leprosy cases, community awareness about leprosy and the leprosy diagnostic skills of health personnel have declined. The country has to gear up to meet these emerging challenges and strive to achieve the target of elimination of leprosy as early as possible.

The book is unique in that it provides the readers not only the details of the contribution of the heroes to leprosy care but also provides interesting glimpses of their background, their life and the determinants of their dedication to the care of leprosy patients. Undoubtedly, this book will be of interest to all leprologists, epidemiologists and public health specialists. Libraries of medical colleges and public health institutions should have this book because it may provide the direly needed idealistic spark to the students and postgraduates who could strive to achieve leprosy elimination and become the heroes of the current century.