For many Australians, it is easy to take for granted our privileges, not least in our access to and choice of top quality education. Anne Roberts, a graduate of the University of Sydney's Faculty of Health Sciences, is extremely aware of this, after almost ten years of working abroad with those less fortunate.   

On Sunday October 11th 2009 at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI declared Father Damien of Molokai to be a saint. Saint Damien de Veuster, as he will now be called, is well-known especially among people involved with the disease leprosy.

Meetings at the United Nations in January 2009 made progress in developing strategies to tackle the worldwide problem of discrimination against people affected by leprosy.

Leprosy is a curable disease and its treatment is free in Nigeria, Minister of Health Prof Babatunde Osotimehin has said. In a speech presented at this year's World Leprosy Day celebrated in Alheri Settlement Village in Kwali Abuja yesterday, the minister decried the alarming rate of stigmatization and discrimination faced by leprosy patients in the society.

I can almost hear it now. Doctors, researchers and other leprosy experts who read the title to this article are saying, “What is wrong with this fellow? Doesn’t he know anything about leprosy? He’s supposed to be the president of ALM and he doesn’t even know about the miraculous cure?”

The Leprosy Mission Vocational Training center, Bankura, Kolkata seems to have struck gold. Truly it’s an extraordinary achievement as 20 of its students will now be working in Russia. And by securing international employment for its trainees, Mission has proved that unrelenting hard work does fructify. Yes, it has transcended international border and with this ace up its sleeve TLM is ready to hitch its wagon to star.

In July China made a significant move for human rights by overturning its decision to ban foreign visitors with leprosy from entering their country during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The UN’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities came into force on 3 May. This is excellent news for the world’s 650 million disabled people. It is estimated that about 10 per cent of the world's population lives with some sort of disability - making disabled people the world's largest minority. And the World Bank estimates that 20 per cent of the poorest people on the planet have a disability.