Comoros

The Comoros, an African island group in the Indian Ocean, has a population of only 800,000. However, there is a great deal of leprosy. For example, the island of Anjouan has an incidence of 7.4 cases per 10,000 inhabitants. That’s 24 times the global average. This is why Damien Foundation has been carrying out intensive research into leprosy in the country for a number of years.

Our impact in 2025

New study in the Comoros to prevent leprosy

Since 2018, Damien Foundation and the Institute for Tropical Medicine (ITM) Antwerp have been conducting research into preventive treatments for this disease. In the ongoing PEOPLE study, the drug rifampicin is administered to people who were in close contact with a leprosy patient. The drug would provide them lifelong protection against leprosy and prevent further infections. But despite the elevated expectations of the World Health Organisation, preliminary results do not show the major decrease in leprosy cases we had hoped for.

The final results of the PEOPLE study will not be available until 2023, but our scientists are continuing to look for more effective treatment methods.

In the new BE-PEOPLE study, people with a high-risk contact are provided a combination of the drugs rifampicin and bedaquiline. “First of all, we hope to see a sharp decline in the number of new leprosy patients among those who received the bedaquiline enhanced PEP regimen. If the new treatment proves effective in the Comoros, it can become the key to elimination of leprosy in other pockets of high endemicity,” says Professor Epco Hasker at ITM.

“In Anjouan, having leprosy has been perceived as part of life because it is extremely frequent. Among those suffering most are children, who represent a third of people affected by leprosy that can be protected and hopefully never develop leprosy,” says Dr. Nimer Ortuño-Gutiérrez, Research Coordinator at Damien Foundation.

The full ITM press release can be found here.