Your generosity helps women like Luiza get diagnosed early!

Luiza is a 23 year old woman from Laleia, Manatuto in Timor Leste. A year or so ago, when the first patches began appearing on her skin, Luiza didn’t know what was happening to her.

“I felt very distressed and anxious because I didn’t know what was happening to me.”

Then some health workers came to her community to run a leprosy education event.

“Then I understood I had leprosy. I knew it wasn’t family heritage but a contagious disease. I was put on Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT) for 12 months… I will finish my treatment later this year.”

Luiza is no longer fearful about her condition.

“I told all of my family and my in-laws. I didn’t feel ashamed any more, I just wanted to get well. Even the doctor told me I could hide my medication but I told him I’m not ashamed of this treatment because it will make me better.”

“Now I am fine… Where my patches were, the skin was thick and dry before and I couldn’t feel it when I pinched it, but now I can feel it again… Now I’m not afraid of discrimination at all. It’s just a disease that anyone can get.”

Instead of being left rejected and neglected, Luiza is studying tourism at university and has dreams of becoming a tour guide. She is married and has a 2-year-old son, Reynaldo.

“I would like to be a tourist guide and show people the beautiful places near my village. There is a big cave and a very nice beach.”

Thanks to your generosity in supporting the work of The Better Health project in Timor Leste, someone like Luiza has been found and diagnosed early. She has no visible deformities and the good news is that sensation has returned to her skin.

The Better Health Project is working to eliminate leprosy in high endemic districts. It focuses its efforts on three key provinces: Dili and Baucau in the north and Oecusse an enclave in Indonesia to the west. The project works to detect leprosy in its early stages in order to halt the onset of disability and stop its spread.

If you would like to help someone like Luiza, support our projects in Timor Leste. Please give online or call 1800 LEPROSY (1800 537 767).