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Leprosy is a mildly infectious disease that around 200,000 people are diagnosed with each year. When you look at the facts surrounding leprosy, it should not be regarded differently from any other mildly infectious disease – and yet it is regarded differently. Why is that?

Leprosy is a mildly infectious disease that is found mostly in poorer communities across the world. Around 200,000 people are diagnosed every year and there are many wrong beliefs about how you catch leprosy, so we asking: what is the truth?

Issa Harouna is a person affected by leprosy. He was diagnosed with leprosy at the young age of 10 years old, but he has a message about how we treat people affected by leprosy and how people affected by leprosy should see themselves.

People affected by leprosy face social isolation due to misplaced fears that lead to persecution and rejection from families and communities.

Leprosy is the oldest disease known to man. In most countries it no longer exists and hasn’t done for centuries, yet in many corners of the globe, it won’t go away. Why is this?

Leprosy is not what you think it is.

Leprosy is the oldest disease in the world. Sadly, hundreds of thousands of people are still diagnosed with it ever year. We are now entering 2020 and I believe that, in the next 15 years, we will end transmission by 2035.

People often have many of their human rights deprived from them when they are diagnosed with leprosy. This is in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human rights and it needs to change.

Leprosy is a socially stigmatised disease – it affects not just the physical, but the mental and social, as well. If we only treat leprosy physically, we are not treating it completely.

Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, but we're working hard to defeat leprosy and transform lives across the country.