Chance, the prepared mind and children with Hansen's disease.

1. Hansen's Disease is a chronic disease found in every continent in the world and among all ethnic groups. 2. Hawaii is neither a "hotbed" of the disease nor a place where the disease is absent. 3. Hansen's Disease is endemic in these islands, but we also have problems and resources for coping with it. 4. Current treatment approaches to clinical and public health aspects of the disease now offer hope. 5. There is a continuing need to educate patients, families, communities and professional workers in the many aspects of this disease. 6. Opportunity exists for Hawaii to become the training nucleus for medical and public health approaches to Hansen's Disease among the populations of the Pacific Basin.