_{(Australian Network News)}

There has been a call for more community awareness of leprosy in the Pacific. Treatment is free but the stigma attached to it is stopping people seeking help. The general manager of the Pacific Leprosy Foundation, Jill Tomlinson, told Pacific Beat the disease can be cured with modern medicine. But she said patients are not coming forward for treatment fast enough.

“The real key is getting people at the very early stage and giving them treatment,” she said.
“That means there’s not the active transmission in the community, because the treatment stops the person being infectious very, very quickly and then it stops them developing disabilities as well.

“So that’s our real key message; it’s a vital one and so I think this call for community awareness is an essential one.”

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