Medical work in Kawimbe was first begun in 1888 by Dr Charles Benjamin Mather with the London Missionary Society. In 1902 a leper camp was opened by Walter Draper, who provided food at his own expense to enable lepers to stay in the camp for treatment. His wife, May, also played a significant part in the work with lepers, achieving important steps through treatment by injection. A station was established in Kawimbe in 1894, with a dispensary being set up by Dr James George Mackay in 1897.

In 1961, 100 patients were under treatment in the leprosy settlement.

Dr E James Currant, "Leprosy institutions in Northern Rhodesia", International Journal of Leprosy, 29 (1961): 366-7.

SOAS Archival Sources on Medicine and Health (PDF, 135 pages)

Entry updated February 2016