Given the lifelong effects of nerve damage and its consequent disabilities—which often affect very young people—and the pressure this burden of disease and disability poses on fragile medical systems, the prevention, detection, and management of nerve function impairment are pivotal to all leprosy-control programmes.
Foot ulcers alone, for example, which are common in anaesthetic feet, can pose a huge burden on medical services. The social consequences for those affected with leprosy and for their families can be devastating. Stigma, community rejection, loss of employment, and sometimes forced isolation are still prevalent in both endemic and non-endemic countries.