Losheng is a hospital for lepers’ patients, which located in SinJhuang City, Taipei County, Taiwan. Losheng sanatorium was built in 1930 by Japanese colonial government. It is the only government-run leprosy institution which provides acute and long-term care exclusively for the patients with leprosy.
Compulsory segregation in Lo-shen sanatorium was executed to control leprosy until 1962. The admission of free entrance was granted since then. Multidrug therapy (MDT) for Taiwanese leprosy patients began in 1982 with the recommendation made by the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO also formed "Leprosy: A Fresh New Face! Easy to Cure, Hard to Catch!" Now Hansen's disease has good medicine for treatment and extremely low chance of infection, however, lots of people still don't understand it.
When the isolation policy is ended, many Lo-shen residents return back to the “normal society”, yet, they suffered from public discrimination out of stigma and shame. Finally, they have no choice but to go back to the sanatorium. Ironically, having difficulty to fit in the society, they return to the sanatorium and it has become their only home after all these years of isolation. However, due to the construction of the Taipei Mass Rapid Transportation(MRTS), many buildings in the sanatorium were forced to be removed and the residents are asked to dislocate to somewhere else. Although the government built a new hospital around the site for the residents of Lo-shen sanatorium, still, many people would rather stay in the original place where they’ve lived for life time.
Many students, urban planners and NGO tried to save the sanatorium because of its cultural value and its historical background. After sixth years of efforts, they finally got some positive response from the government who reconsidered to reserve part of Lo-shen sanatorium as historical relic site. The authorities had passed Lo-shen as the historical site for public healthy, architecture, and human rights ..etc. With its abundant and meaningful education meanings, the government had recognized it and applied for the recognition as one of the World Heritage site.
In the actions of saving Losheng, the Youth Alliance stand with Losheng residents all the time in an attempt to fight for the human rights and eligible interest. From the summer vacation in 2007, they established the Losheng summer camp. Now it had developed and become the Lo-shen community school. They hope to attract people and children to walk into the sanatorium as more as possible in learning these dynamic programs. At the same time, they wish to bring more educational resources to the neighboring area and encourage more inspiration.
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