SHE clings to her mother’s leg and turns her face away. I noticed the spot on her face and looked at her mother.

“She’s on treatment,” the mother said.

I wondered how a small girl of five could be diagnosed with leprosy. It takes up to 15 years to show.

Her mother continued, “Her father is on treatment too.”

Two houses from the little girl’s house a young girl of about 8, rests one of her feet on her lap. I could see the sore from where I was sitting and walked over. She is shy and hides her feet under her skirt.

This is a story hidden in a fast growing city of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. As many rush here and there in the midst of fast moving vehicles, large infrastructure and and the rush to make money, little girls like my two little friends risk loosing parts of their bodies.

Shy and vulnerable they ask for nothing but their family’s love. In most cases this is often the biggest problem when parents neglect children and deny them proper medication for their skin patches until a health worker finds a sore that has not healed for almost four or five years.

The PNG Health Department and The Leprosy Mission PNG’s (TLM-PNG) efforts in fighting leprosy over the years produced good results and in year 2000 PNG government declared leprosy eliminated in the country. However, this was only for a short while. The problem persisted quietly for at least 10 to 15 years and has surfaced in large numbers in PNG’s capital Port Moresby, the Central, West Sepik and Western Provinces.

This called for increased efforts in these provinces and as well as delivering care services TLM-PNG is currently implementing a Sustainable Livelihood Development Project in the hope of giving families affected by leprosy a chance to change their health practices, develop income generating activities and live fully in their communities without a lot of hassles of a modern developing country.

In 2018 TLM-PNG re-enrolled five children back in school in its efforts to keep an interest in families affected by leprosy and raise awareness on stigma related to leprosy in those schools. The feedback from the receiving schools were positive however with little support from families the children often find it difficult to continue with school.

In two villages two fathers were smiling again when their daughters in full beam on their faces started going back to school. One father said, “Theresa is always shy and hiding in the house. Since she got her school uniform she hasn’t stopped smiling and that makes me happy too.” But this was only for a short while.

As well as TB, leprosy medicine is freely available at the disease control units in the provinces and at some clinics and Port Moresby General hospital. This is possible because the World Health Organisation and the PNG National Health Department has prioritized the eradication of this disease. It is curable however, many people ignore it until too late.

Last week the National Health Department and TLM-PNG observed the World Leprosy Day with the theme ‘Beat Leprosy’ and a sub theme ‘together we will beat leprosy’. The day was filled with awareness events around National Capital District.

By Rosa Koian