The report said at least 223,000 people were leprosy victims.

In front of the capitol stands a statue of Father Damien, the Belgian priest who in 1873 volunteered to work among leprosy victims on Moloka'i.

Grünenthal provided more than 1,000 leprosy victims in the United States with Thalidomide until a few months before July 1986.

THE Princess of Wales was compared to a Hindu goddess by Nepalis yesterday when she visited a hospital and made a point of touching leprosy victims.

In the Jopling's original report, he quoted Hansen as saying "the Norwegian state has always handled its leprosy victims humanely".

In colonial India, the government enacted the Leprosy Act of 1898, which institutionalized leprosy victims and separated them based on gender to prevent reproduction.

The historical legacy and societal stigma toward leprosy are evidenced by various laws containing discriminatory clauses against leprosy victims.

Other countries with high numbers of leprosy victims are Myanmar, Madagascar, Nepal and Mozambique.

"The biggest problem we face is that leprosy victims don't go to the doctor soon enough," said Liu Fangmin, the deputy director of the Salaxi Leprosy Hospital here.

The vast majority (80%) of the leprosy victims are Hazara.