**4. Life review of Hansen's disease survivors**

*Quality of Life - Biopsychosocial Perspectives*

there was no possibility for them to get discharged.

in the Leprosy academic meeting at that time were adopted.

**3.4 After abolishing the Leprosy Prevention Law (1996~)**

The treatment offered to the patients at the sanatoria during that period had serious issues from humanitarian and ethical perspectives. For example, the patients were forced to undergo sterilization surgery in order to prevent the them from having child, they were forced to enter the punishment room, officers had disciplinary arrest rights which was the right of the sanatorium director to punish or confine patients who disobeyed the rules at his own discretion, sanatorium scrip which was an attempt to prevent runaways by converting money to a currency that could only be used in the sanatorium, changing names to an internal alias, forced labor, establishment of diseased/non-diseased boundary, autopsy, and so on. One of the biggest issue was that the Hansen's Disease Prevention Law did not have any stipulations about being discharged. Therefore, once a person entered a sanatorium,

**3.3 From developing the magic bullet "Promin" to abolishing the Leprosy Prevention Law (Act No. 214 of 1953;** らい予防法**) (1943–1996)**

Japan lost the Second World War in 1945 and a new constitution which respected basic human rights and advocated democracy was established in 1946. In addition, the magic bullet "Promin" was developed in USA in 1943, and after the success to synthesize the chemical in Japan in 1946, treatment using the same was started in 1947. The conventional law, the Leprosy Prevention Law (Act No. 58 of 1931;癩予防法) was amended and the Leprosy Prevention Law (Act No. 214 of 1953; らい予防法), which emulated the conventional law and continued to grant disciplinary arrest rights and forced internment, was established. This was going backwards and was against the intent to promote respect for basic human rights and democracy after the war, and was adopted even though the disease could be cured with Promin. In addition, in spite of furious opposition, through hunger strikes and abandonment of sanatorium work, by the National Hansen's Disease Sanatorium Residents' Council, the opinion of authority

The National Hansen's Disease Sanatorium Residents' Council negotiated with the government persistently, which led to the buffering on the regulation on going out, but this came to a standstill in operational mitigation because of the abolition

After the abolition of the Leprosy Prevention Law (Act No. 214 of 1953;らい予防法) in 1996, during the National Redress Suit in 2001, the government was convicted to have committed a mistake by promoting the policy of isolation. The government, including the Prime Minister; the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors; and the Minister of Health, Labor, and welfare, apologized to the Hansen's disease survivors. Only a few Hansen's disease survivors could return to social existence as the average age of these people was over 60 years. The Law on Promoting a Resolution for the Hansen's Disease problem was established in 2009. This law directs that these patients are guaranteed that they would be able to lead a normal life, get treatment, return to the society and will be offered aid for social life, also that assistance would be provided to redeem their reputation, protection would be provided for family members, and the

The average age of Hansen's disease survivors currently is 86, and the total number of people with the disease has decreased to 1175 as of 2019. There will be no cases of Hansen's disease in Japan soon. Now, high quality nursing is provided in the sanatoria. With this we hope that the aging Hansen's disease survivors, who have previously experienced suffering and hardship, can have a peaceful life and

of the Leprosy Prevention Law (Act No. 214 of 1953; らい予防法) in 1996.

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dead would be memorialized.
