The prevention of disabilities consists of three important aspects, namely:
• Primary prevention, the most important. This consists of early diagnosis and proper treatment of leprosy reactions.
• Secondary prevention of disabilities. This consists of assisting the patient in preventing his existing disabilities from getting worse by stimulating and facilitating selfcare at home, and timely referral of those who develop complications.
• Tertiary prevention, is basically physical and social rehabilitation of those persons affected by severe deformities and destitution. These patients can be rehabilitated by means of community based rehabilitation, sometimes reconstructive surgery, or vocational training. The disabled leprosy patients living in camps presently are taken care of by Social Welfare division and/or by NGOs. Also for them a lot can still be done in terms of supportive measures like provision of protective footwear, treatment of bad wounds, repair of prosthesis, assisting in getting reading spectacles, etc. to initiating of and assisting with small scale income generating projects.