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Cured Lepers of Ivory Coast Face Desertion by Government, Families
"We're the last survivors, all alone, our families having abandoned us," says Dosso, 69, one of 20 cured leprosy sufferers still living in Marchoux or Gnankanassi ("Thank God" in the local Ebrie language).
"It's only recently that my parents visited," he added bitterly, recalling his 38 years in the village built in 1950 along a bumpy road on the side of the Ebrie lagoon, separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow coastal strip.
The village takes its French name from a missionary doctor, Emile Marchoux (1862-1943), renowned for advocating a more humane treatment of one of the world and history's most misunderstood diseases.
Marchoux wanted to see model villages of this sort set up -- Marchoux-Gnankanassiwith boasts electricity and safe drinking water, a school and a medical clinic.
But deep-rooted beliefs that leprosy is a divine curse mean the reality of living with the stigma of disfigurement even after successful treatment can be harsh.
The scars the disease leaves are serious -- with severe injuries to hands and feet, even if amputation can be avoided with early treatment, and facial disfigurement.
The problem with leprosy is the time it takes to reveal itself. The average is two to five years but in some cases the disease can incubate for 20.
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