The world's experience with leprosy dates back thousands of years. Its impact has been felt in all societies and cultures. Now, a concerted effort is underway to bring all the historical facts about leprosy into one global database to be used by researchers and leprosy specialists.

Called "The Global Project on the History of Leprosy," it is the initiative of the International Leprosy Association, and is fully funded by the Nippon Foundation. The project is based at the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine at the University of Oxford.

The purpose of the project is to gather and develop the best possible database of leprosy archives available throughout the world. It will be used mainly by researchers as a starting point to explore and expand the understanding of the modern history of leprosy. The project is already becoming the focus of those who have an interest in the dramatic impact of leprosy throughout history.

The database, which lists such items as the first recorded professional publication dealing with leprosy (Omspedalskhek, by Danielssen and Boeck, 1847) will mention and list publications from a worldwide collection of organizational, policy, scientific and medical archives. The database will also list leprosaria records, museums and libraries where additional information can be found.

The global database also includes the private collections of people who have directly worked in the field with leprosy, as well as firsthand accounts by people who actually contracted leprosy. The Oxford University center does not actually have all these records and collections, but will direct researchers to where they can be found anywhere in the world. As a result, the project will a) smooth the way for people looking for information on the subject, even the most obscure references, b) encourage the preservation of these global archives, and c) set up a network of international researchers, making it easy for them to contact each other.

Additionally, the database will include references to the Oral History Project, which is compiling a collection of resources collected from the people actually affected by leprosy. The project organizers feel that this will add a direct human-interest dimension, bringing the history to life.

An example of material from the Oral History Project is a report from Suva, Fiji about the leprosarium set up in 1911 on Makogai Island. People suffering from leprosy around the Pacific region were sent here, including twenty patients from Quail Island, NZ. The leprosarium at Makogai was closed in 1969 and the people were moved to the P. J. Twomey Memorial Hospital in Suva.

Dorothy McMeniman and Dr Jane Buckingham visited the hospital in August 2004 to record the stories of the people there, particularly those who had experienced isolation at Makogai. These recordings are to be held at the McMillan Brown Library at the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch, New Zealand, as part of the archive of the Pacific Leprosy Foundation.

Reference will be made to many stories and materials like this in the Leprosy History Project, thanks to The Nippon Foundation's support.