Due to misunderstanding, lack of information and incorrect beliefs, people affected by leprosy can experience severe discrimination and  prejudice when they show symptoms, or when a diagnosis is confirmed. The consequences can be devastating; people are often shunned by their community or even their own family, they may lose their livelihoods and they can even experience thoughts of suicide. They are left to endure a lifetime of abuse, isolation and shame.

During the difficult times of the Covid-19 crisis, so many of us in the UK can resonate with such feelings of isolation with social distancing measures we have experienced; though this has hopefully been a relatively short term restriction compared to that of a leprosy sufferer for whom isolation may last a lifetime.