One of the key components of rehabilitation is prevention of disability (POD). If MDT is administered as soon as leprosy symptoms become evident, there is usually no lasting deformity or disability.
However, feet and hands can still lose their feeling and this is what can cause problems later on.
Prevention of disability is about learning to prevent damage from everyday tasks. People with leprosy must always anticipate pain when they can’t feel it. Quite often, they must change their lifestyle to suit.
This is where aids like Micro-Cellular Sandals help to protect their feet from injury and ulcers, as they have little feeling in their feet leprosy patients are encouraged to examine their feet regularly for injury.
TLM Worker Angelika Piefer, a prevention of disability worker and socio-economic development advisor in DR Congo, checks a leprosy-affected person's insensitive foot for ulcers or infections.