Somali's forgotten lepers at risk

BBC NEWS | Africa: "Somalia's last government, toppled in 1991, had given aid to the Faragurow leper camp but they had now been ignored for 14 years, he said. More than 900 Somali lepers are on the verge of death because they have run out of food and medicine, their leader, Mr Haashi, who himself suffers from leprosy,says.

Since the toppling of the regime of Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has been torn apart by warlords who have fragmented the country and fought among themselves for territorial control.

Despite there now being a cure for leprosy, the World Health Organisation says it remains a problem in many developing countries and in 2002 there were over 600,000 new cases reported. "