Ministry announces encouraging progress toward elimination.

　

　

On January 28, Brazil's Ministry of Health publically announced that the country's prevalence rate had come down to 1.7 per 10,000, with the number of leprosy patients standing at 30,000. The announcement followed a careful review of the country's statistics.
　According to Dr. Rosa Castalia, leprosy program coordinator at the Ministry of Health, Brazil is hoping to achieve elimination by the end of this year in line with the WHO target.
　Once the goal has been achieved at the national level, Brazil is aiming to achieve elimination in each city between 2006 and 2010, she said.

　

Tony Gould illuminates the lives of people affected by leprosy and those who made the disease their life's work in his fascinating new book Don't Fence Me In: From Curse to Cure ― Leprosy in Modern Times (Bloomsbury Publishing).
　Through the individual stories of doctors, missionaries and patients, Gould charts evolving attitudes toward the disease and those who contracted it in a compelling narrative that unfolds against the backdrop of Norway, Hawaii, India and elsewhere.

　

　

　While he doesn't hold back from describing the desolate existence of people banished to society's margins through no fault of their own, Gould's sympathetic treatment is enriched by his discerning eye for the idiosyncrasies of his often colorful cast of characters.
　What emerges is a very human portrait ― and for a disease where the humanity of those affected has often been denied, this is a worthy outcome indeed.

Sister Clemence of the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres works with persons affected by leprosy at Tulear regional hospital in southwest Madagascar. When still a novice, she was inspired by the example of a Father Isidore, who applied makeup to the face of a terminally ill patient so that she could die with dignity.
　Today, one of Sister Clemence's activities is to run a beauty clinic at the hospital, where women come to her with their skin complaints. Sometimes, she uncovers symptoms of leprosy this way. In the week before Goodwill Ambassador Sasakawa visited, Sister Clemence found three new cases.
　Often, the best medicine Sister Clemence dispenses is not ointment or advice, but the time she takes to listen to what the women have to say. By sharing details about their lives, they unburden themselves and return home refreshed.
　For so long, those with leprosy suffered in silence. It is thus encouraging to see them starting to make their voices heard, and people starting to listen. At the recent African Leprosy Congress, persons affected by leprosy were a vocal presence, occupying the front rows of the auditorium and playing an active role in some of the sessions.
　We also have news of the appointment of Lokdoots, or special communicators, in India ― recovered persons who have been selected to dispel myths about leprosy and set society straight about the disease.
　In the last two decades, over 14 million people have been cured of leprosy. But as the WHO's Dr. Asamoah Baah commented in Johannesburg, that is not quite true. “They may have been cured physically, but they have not been cured emotionally and mentally” ― and they won't be until society is cured of the disease of stigma.
　For persons affected by leprosy, an important part of that healing process is being able to talk about their experience. Society at large would do well to take a leaf out of Sister Clemence's book, and lend a sympathetic ear.

　

　

　

(c)2005 The Nippon Foundation. All rights reserved by the foundation. This document may, however, be freely reviewed, abstracted, reproduced or translated, in part or in whole, but not for sale or for use in conjunction with commercial purposes. The responsibility for facts and opinions in this publication rests exclusively with the editors and contributors, and their interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of the Goodwill Ambassador's Office.