Why Leprosy Care Comes Late in Tanzania: Stigma, Witchcraft Beliefs and Failing Clinics

People affected by leprosy in Tanzania often wait months or years before receiving an accurate diagnosis, and a new qualitative study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases shows why. Researchers led by Sylivester Asimwe Muhigi, Kijakazi Mashoto and Mercy Chiduo interviewed patients, community members and frontline  health workers in the Tanga and Morogoro regions to trace the full journey from the first strange skin patch to the first dose of multidrug therapy. Their findings reveal a chain of delays that begins in the household, passes through traditional healers and worried relatives, and ends only when patients reach clinics that may themselves struggle to recognize the disease.