Communicating with photographs in a leprosy hospital in Nepal

Abstract

Photographic teaching aids for health education about leprosy were made for use in Anandaban Leprosy Mission Hospital, 12 miles south of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. The effective treatment of leprosy requires considerable education of medical staff, the general public and patients. The major educational needs are the recognition of the early lesions by medical staff allowing early treatment and the education of the patient with the disease. By these means the mutilating deformities can be avoided. In Nepal 1% of the population suffer from leprosy, frequently with appalling physical, social and economic consequences. The fact that patients suffer severe deformity represents in part a failure of communication by medical personnel. Producing aids for leprosy health education made aware of the great difficulty in producing appropriate teaching materials in the developing world. Photography offers an accurate representation of a subject which can either be used for recognition or imparting information.