The Forgotten Disease

Last month, the University of Texas announced the results of its study on leprosy, the oldest disease in civilization. Leprosy still afflicts many people in the developing world, although it might as well be a forgotten disease in the West. Indonesia, has the third largest number of leprosy patients in the world. Hence the recent initiative to launch a global fight against the disease. The biggest problem facing leprosy-afflicted people today is the discrimination and the isolation by their own communities, even when they have been totally cured. Activists in a number of areas are trying to erase this debilitating stigma, and raise the confidence of patients, so they can lead productive lives. Tempo English reports from South Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara.