Socially marginalized groups such as women, minority social or ethnic groups and the urban poor are less likely to seek care, and are not motivated to account for their individual needs. Even community education and medical knowledge of the disease does not immediately dispel the stigma, as people with experience of the disease do not necessarily have a positive attitude to the patients. The cause of this stigma is not well understood.

Sustaining the gains made so far and further reducing the disease burden in India require an innovative, holistic approach that includes ongoing education, efforts to identify interventions to dispel stigma, and the inclusion of nonallopathic practitioners in disease control programs.

For more information about the impact of Stigmatisation on the efforts to End Leprosy see The Stigmatization of Leprosy in India and Its Impact on Future Approaches to Elimination and Control by Jesse T. Jacob and Carlos Franco-Paredes. Click here to read the journal entry.

If you are interested in the campaign to End leprosy Now, please click on the link below and pledge your support.

Help to End leprosy Now

What is Leprosy?
Leprosy, also called Hansen’s Disease, is an infectious disease caused by the Mycobacterium Leprae. For those at risk, exposure to prolonged coughing and sneezing from an infected individual can spread the disease. Leprosy attacks the nervous system, deadening the body to pain, so that wounds are often left untreated. Because the individual does not feel any pain, infections are allowed to grow until they are so severe that limbs may require amputation. Leprosy can also cause fingers and toes to curl inward, feet to lose their ability to arch and even blindness. The end result is horrific disfigurement and lifelong stigma. But, if caught in time, leprosy can be treated and completely cured before the disfigurement begins. Early detection and treatment is essential in controlling the spread of this disease.

Public ignorance and fear mean that attitudes towards former Leprosy sufferers and those close to them remain unchanged; they are excluded from schools and workplaces, unable to find or keep marriage partners, and widely shunned by communities. Many are disabled, most are forced into poverty. There is no other illness whose sufferers continue to face such stigmatisation even after they have been cured.

Why Now?
25 January 2009 has been designated World Leprosy Day. This site has been initiated now, in the lead up to World Leprosy Day 2009, to revitalise and reenergise the efforts to eradicate this disfiguring disease.