Poverty Costs an Arm and a Leg

Women living with Hansen's Disease in Mapuordit, S.Sudan

Most areas of South Sudan are still mired in extreme poverty. Perhaps that makes you think of hunger, or lack of access to education. True enough. But it also means lack of available health care, a deficit that can literally cost you an arm and a leg.

Hansen's Disease (leprosy), when not treated on time and consistently, maims its sufferers. Victims lose fingers and toes, perhaps even a nose. Despite its lingering stigma, this disease is completely treatable--that's why it is almost never seen in developed countries.  That it still exists in places like South Sudan is a wrenching reminder of how our world's resources are not equitably distributed.