Rufiji Leprosy Trust is a charitable trust supporting the Kindwitwi Leprosy Care Centre in the Rufiji area of Tanzania.
The care centre assists in:
~ finding and treating people living with leprosy in the Rufiji area
~ supporting people all people affected by leprosy throughout the Rufiji area
~ promoting self-sufficiency of people living with leprosy and their families.
As leprosy is curable, many think the disease is no longer a problem, however it is listed as a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) by the World Health Organisation, which means it is especially common in some of the world’s poorest areas.
The Trust prides itself on being totally managed by volunteer Trustees; the only paid employees are those who carry out the Trust’s work in Tanzania.
Please read on to find out more about our work, to make a donation or to catch up on the latest news.
Latest News
Our very first Newsletter
Cataloguing the Rufiji Leprosy Trust archive continues. This is Issue 130 of our Newsletter. Our very first Newsletter was sent out in November 1989 and was written by Robin Pim and Teresa Sutton who were the volunteers in Kindwitwi at the time. That year, as a result of the innovative outreach programme, 82 new cases of leprosy were detected in the region. The team faced the challenge of the Landrover having been written off, and in the meantime were looking at delivering some outreach sessions by boat. HIV was starting to be recognised as a problem and the volunteers had obtained funding for an AIDS education programme. (The HIV virus had only been officially named in 1986). There was the perennial challenge of providing a regular water supply to the village and a handicraft project was being set up to sell baskets and mats made by the villagers.
How is leprosy detected?
The signs of leprosy include:
- enlarged nerves at the elbow, due to inflammation
- pale, numb patches of skin
- skin nodules
- ulcers on the feet
- loss of feeling in the hands and feet
On an outreach visit the team advise staff and villagers about the signs of leprosy and invite people who think they may have these signs to come forward to be checked. On this trip seven children presented with one or more of the above signs and one ten-year-old boy, who had walking difficulties, was subsequently found to have leprosy.
More new cases of leprosy found in the Rufiji area
In December Dr Nnally and his team visited Nambunju Village. 46 people were screened for leprosy and five of these were subsequently diagnosed with leprosy and commenced on treatment.
Although leprosy is considered to be eradicated in some parts of Tanzania, a government press release in January noted that 1439 new cases were identified in Tanzania in 2025. Around 15 cases of leprosy were identified in the Ruifji area. The long incubation period of leprosy (up to twenty years) makes it very difficult to to say whether leprosy has indeed been eradicated from an area. However, it is encouraging that far fewer cases are being identified compared with thirty years ago, see our later article.
