In 2018, two large PEP implementation trails succesfully obtained funding from a joint call by the  European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) and Leprosy Research Initiative (LRI).

In 2018, two large PEP implementation trails succesfully obtained funding from a joint call by the  European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) and Leprosy Research Initiative (LRI).

In this call, launched in 2017, the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) and Leprosy Research Initiative (LRI) collaborated with the aim to leverage resources and to pool funds in support of of clinical and implementation research on NIDs in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in relation to leprosy and NIDs that are co-endemic with leprosy. LRI contributed € 400,000 to fund successful applications that were partly or completely focused on leprosy.

The outcome of the joint call was very successful for the leprosy research community – with two large leprosy research projects being accepted for funding. Both projects are described under the projects related to our research priority area of "Interrupt transmission".

Chemoprophylaxis for leprosy: comparing the effectiveness and feasibility of a skin camp intervention to a health centre-based intervention. An implementation trial in Mozambique, Ethiopia and Tanzania (PEP4LEP)

NLR, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with partners from Ethiopia, Germany, Mozambique, the Netherlands, and Tanzania

Project coordinator: Ms. Liesbeth Mieras (NLR), the Netherlands

Starting date: 1 October 2018

Duration: 52 months

Grant amount: EUR 3,198,356

Post exposure prophylaxis for leprosy in the Comoros and Madagascar (PEOPLE)

Prins Leopold Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde (ITM), Antwerp, Belgium, with partners from Belgium, France, Madagascar, and the Netherlands

Project coordinator: Prof. Bouke de Jong (ITM), Belgium

Starting date: 1 September 2018

Duration: 48 months

Grant amount: EUR 2,999,479