This is made up of current and past patients as well as their family members.

This organisation, in Kiribati has developed into both a self-help group, where patients provide support and encouragement to others during their treatment, and a group of dedicated people who help the leprosy services in the country by speaking to community and school groups to raise awareness about leprosy.

The group has been incorporated as a society and chose the name LASKAR (which means helping those with leprosy). In the short time since it was incorporated it has provided advice on the needs of people with disability to the Kiribati human rights commission, spoken to community groups and assisted the leprosy programme at the ministry of health to understand why new patients might default on completing their course of medication. This group is proving to be a great asset in identifying the needs of people with leprosy and in helping communities understand what leprosy is and how it can be cured. One very tangible result is that at various group meetings, people will come forward and ask to be checked for leprosy.

Photo of the chair of Laskar, Routakarawa Kantaro (on the right), and a young man from his village who was diagnosed with leprosy following a village meeting with Laskar.