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Relief Updates:
Leprosy Testing and Treatment

Within the 230-family village of Kuta Kreung is a leprosy community. The affected families live in an isolation area along the shore, and they lost their homes and boats to the tsunami. Although the larger village also lost many homes, villagers have set as a priority the reconstruction and treatment for their leper relatives.

The waiting room is newly furnished.

To reestablish leprosy testing and treatment, AFSC first provided funds to rebuild a village clinic and to make initial assessments. In partnership with the Indonesian Christian Association for Health Service, AFSC sent a team with a doctor, lab technician, and coordinator to Kuta Krueng with medicines and basic equipment to work with a local paramedic and the local public health unit to diagnose the particular strain of leprosy present.

Leprosy treatment is underway and lasts one year. Because it has been discovered that many villages in this area have people infected with leprosy, AFSC is supporting a campaign to gather the statistics and bring the extent of the problem to the attention of the national government so that it can be addressed on a larger scale.

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