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World Leprosy Day

Towards a Bangladesh without leprosy

Martin Adhikary
TODAY is the 59th World Leprosy Day.
Organisations in about 100 countries will be engaged in raising awareness about leprosy, reduction of stigma and discrimination against the people affected by this disease, prevention of disability, and socio-economic rehabilitation of these people. There has always been stigma around this disease.
The social stigma surrounding this curable disease still pervades the minds and thoughts of many people. This scenario needs to be transformed in any society today. Leprosy is still as much a social problem as a medical one. The stigma of leprosy is caused largely by the deformities caused by leprosy. Leprosy is a truly human development issue since it affects the whole human being, the whole sociological arena of any society -- physical, psychological, societal and spiritual.
We are grateful to our Parliament that it has repealed the obsolete and alienating Lepers Act 1898 last year. This has paved the way for social inclusion of people affected by leprosy, which has been treated by modern scientific methods since the eighties of the last century. The old Act was necessary in those days when there was no cure for leprosy. But now there has been revolutionary
change in the treatment of leprosy because of the invention of MDT (Multi-DrugTherapy).
Authorities everywhere need to be serious at least in the two following matters in order to implement the spirit behind the repeal of the said prejudicial legislation about leprosy affected people: (i) Enough hands-on education in MBBS and nursing curricula needs to be provided to undergraduates. This is to ensure that leprosy
treatment is integrated into general health care infrastructure, and that leprosy affected people do not need to go to specialised places for their treatment, and (ii) mass media have an important role to play in disseminating up-to-date information about leprosy and contributing to awareness raising and transformation of the traditional atti-
tude and myths about leprosy.
Sadly enough, we have waited exactly for two years (since World Leprosy Day January 31, 2010) for disseminating a public awareness SMS in mobile phone network through BRTA. The message reads: "Kusthorog chikithsai bhalo hoy. Binamulay er chikithsa paoa jay. Erog chhoache noy. Rogike poribar-somaj theke alada rakhar proyojon nai."
This message was endorsed by the National Leprosy Elimination Program of the Directorate General of Health Services, and also duly approved by the appropriate office of the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs. We continue to wait for the dissemination of this very important message for creating public awareness.
Let us dream and proactively work together for mainstreaming the people who are created in God's image yet they are made to live in inhuman conditions. With the blessings of the revolutionary change in medical care of leprosy and the repeal of the 114 years old Lepers Act 1898 we ought to have enough hope for transformation in the leprosy scenario in our country. We need to have a transformation of our mindset and the political and social will to join hands together to create a "Bangladesh without leprosy."
The writer is a human rights activist, and a Christian Theology teacher.