
Leprosy is a mildly infectious disease which attacks nerves in the hands, feet and face, making them weak and numb.
Often considered a disease of the past, leprosy in fact continues to affect millions of people around the world, with hundreds of thousands of new diagnoses every year, and many known to continue undiagnosed.
Most New Zealanders are not aware that leprosy exists today. In fact, every two minutes someone is diagnosed with leprosy.
Leprosy is curable, not highly contagious, and most people have a natural immunity to it, but a lack of knowledge and understanding about the disease is one of the key challenges as we seek to defeat it entirely.