Chairman Sasakawa meeting with resident

The focus of the trip was a national sanatorium in the village of Umbak, 60 kilometers south of the national capital in a desert bordering the Caspian Sea coast. Constructed in 1953—the year of Stalin's death—as a joint facility to be used by the three Soviet republics of the South Caucasus region (Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan) the facility housed more than 200 patients at its peak in 1960. (Photo: Chairman Sasakawa greeting each resident individually)

However, preceding the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of the three South Caucasus nations in the 1980s, the number of patients declined due to the use of multidrug therapy (MDT). Today, the facility only treats roughly 30 patients from within Azerbaijan. Director Arief described the difficulties faced by the facility: "We used to have a number of patients from Georgia and Armenia. But now, with the facility deteriorating, the government cannot even afford the repairs that we need."

The sanitarium was constructed adjacent to Umbak village, located in the Gobistan desert two hours south of Baku on an unpaved road. According to Director Arief, a number of similar facilities were constructed across the Soviet Union before its collapse.

Oil station on the Caspian Sea

In recent years, Azerbaijan has attracted considerable attention for the oil and natural gas that it produces. "I didn’t even know leprosy facilities existed in Azerbaijan," said Mr. Rabal Bashirogle, a reporter from a local news agency who accompanied the delegation. "The financial state of the government must be better, what with the recent rise in crude oil prices, and I don't understand why this facility is languishing in this condition."