The Island (57 page)

Authors: Victoria Hislop

BOOK: The Island

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The Work of LEPRA

With their trained teams of paramedics and health workers, LEPRA (The Leprosy Relief Association) seeks out and treats those affected, enabling them to care and provide for themselves. A course of pills, Multi-Drug Therapy, cures most patients in six months and the more infectious patients within one year. If treatment is started early, deform - ities and disabilities can be prevented and social stigmatisation avoided. For those already disabled by leprosy, LEPRA’s staff teach how to prevent the worsening of these disabilities and reconstructive surgery is becoming more widely available. Hands that have become clawed can be straightened and a simple operation can save a person’s sight.

It costs £21 to help cure one person of leprosy.

Further information can be found online: www.lepra.org.uk or from LEPRA, 28 Middleborough, Colchester, Essex CO1 1TG 08451 212121

The Island

VICTORIA HISLOP

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