HUMAN DISEASES 549 



regarded as a disease of great importance. Since then there is no 

 reason to beheve that any marked change in the incidence has 

 come about. There are three old-estabHshed colonies run by 

 missions, on an island in Lake Bunyoni in Kigezi district, at Nyenga 

 in Mengo, and at Kumi in Teso. A new colony was started at 

 Buluba by the Mill Hill Mission in 1934, run in association with 

 that at Nyenga. Recently the Native Administration has taken 

 over the control of the settlement, and the mission activities are 

 restricted to treatment at the dispensary. At each centre the 

 patients, who come voluntarily, are supported by maintenance 

 grants for the first year until they have established their own farms 

 and become self-supporting. In conjunction with the colonies, 

 homes have been established for uninfected children who are segre- 

 gated from their parents as early as possible. In Nigeria and the 

 Gold Coast, where leprosy is said to be particularly virulent, special 

 government organizations are established and much work is being 

 carried out by medical missions assisted by grants from the central 

 Government, the Native Administrations, and the Leprosy Relief 

 Association. In Sierra Leone a survey of cases recently completed 

 shows a total of 3,675, representing about i per cent of the popu- 

 lation. 



In the French colonies a prophylactic campaign against leprosy 

 was started a few years ago, and is run in conjunction with the 

 large leprosy hospital, settlement, and laboratories near Bamako 

 {see Chapter XV). Emphasis has been placed on research, and a 

 notable discovery is that certain plants, Caloncobas, growing especi- 

 ally in the Ivory Coast and the Cameroons, yield extracts which 

 have effects on leprosy similar to the products of chaulmoogra. 



In the Belgian Congo the legislation of 193 1 provides for leper 

 segregation. In some areas the disease is particularly common, 

 especially in Uele-Nepoko, where Professor Dubois (1932) made 

 a survey in 1930 and found in some parts as much as 12 per cent 

 of the population suffering. His report stimulated the Croix 

 Rouge du Congo to start a campaign with financial assistance 

 from the FOREAAII, the Institut de Medecine Tropicale and the 

 Ministry for Colonies. A model village was built at Pawa, and 

 sufferers from the disease were persuaded, with plenty of food and 

 good housing, to live there. There are now three such villages in 



