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| A young woman
affected by leprosy in Myanmar (Burma) is benefiting from a new mobile prostheses
clinic. Credit: Leprosy Mission |
This Sunday, 26 January, is World Leprosy Day 2014. Few people might take notice; few might even know
that leprosy still exits today. But it does.
For me, World Leprosy Day always has a special
resonance because when I was very young – just after high
school – I worked in a leprosy centre for a few months. It was in Polambakkam in
beautiful Tamil Nadu in the south of India. At the time, the multidrug
therapy hadn’t been developed yet and the stigma of the disease was so strong
that very few Indian medics wanted to work there, so volunteers like me were brought
in to help clean infected wounds and bandage damaged limbs.
Leprosy has now been curable
for the past 25 years or so, but is still a global problem, affecting more than 15 million people worldwide
(including 100 in the UK), and each year, at least a quarter of a
million new cases are detected - that
is almost one person diagnosed every two minutes (World
Health Organization). Over half of all newly-reported cases
occur in India. And the stigma is still as damaging as it was when I was young.
On World Leprosy Day, the Leprosy Mission England and Wales, an international organization working to eradicate the causes and
consequences of the disease, wants to “shine a light on this hidden disease.”
Here is their message:
• Did you know there are still leprosy colonies in the
world today where people are ‘sent’ or ‘seek refuge’? There are 850 in
India.
• Did you know that stigma surrounding leprosy in many
parts of the world today is akin to what it was during Biblical times?
Even beggars begging for their own survival will often shun a leprosy-affected
person.
• Did you know that leprosy is completely curable with a
simple combination of antibiotics? Yet 85 per cent of people in Delhi,
India - still believe there is no cure.
We’re
confident that leprosy rates would be slashed across the world today were it
not still shrouded in age-old stigma. Three million people would not be
living with irreversible disabilities as a result of late treatment of the
disease.
What
other disease sees someone outcast from their family, sacked from their job,
thrown off public transport and pushed to the very fringes of society?
The
tragedy is when leprosy is ‘hidden’. It damages and disables, slowly destroying
each aspect of a person’s life. If it wasn’t for stigma and
misunderstandings surrounding leprosy then people would seek treatment and all
healthcare professionals would recognise its symptoms.
Leprosy is a disease.
Those affected deserve dignity not discrimination. Please spread the word.
For more information, click
here.
