Md Sazedul Islam :
Abul Hossain (not his real name), 35, a resident of Dhaka city and a garment worker, was diagnosed as a case of leprosy 15 days after his marriage. His wife divorced him because of leprosy infection. As his case was detected at early stage, he was recovered after taking treatment regularly.
The incident indicated that leprosy is curable with timely treatment. It also revealed that stigma is high surrounding the disease.
Leprosy is still a health problem in our country. Annually, on an average about 3,000 new leprosy cases are detected in the country in the recent years.
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by a specific small germ ‘Mycobacterium leprae.’ It mostly affects the peripheral nerves and the skin.
People with poor immunity are susceptible to the disease. Poverty, malnutrition and unhygienic living condition are the reasons of infection.
Leprosy is neither a curse and nor a hereditary disease.
According to The Leprosy Mission International-Bangladesh (TLMI-B), you can catch it only if you come into close and repeated contact with nose and mouth droplets from someone with untreated leprosy.
The best way to prevent leprosy is to reduce the sources of infection by early and adequate treatment of persons suffering from leprosy with multidrug therapy (MDT).
Persons affected by leprosy exhibit symptoms of pale and reddish skin, numbness of hands or feet or loss of feeling in a patch of skin.
It is extremely important to get treatment as soon as one is detected with leprosy. Treatment of leprosy is available for free in the country. Leprosy can cause permanent disabilities if left untreated.
TLMI-B sources said 209,543 new leprosy cases were detected in the country from 1985 till 2014. Of them, most were cured with regular treatment while 11 per cent turned disabled for their failure to take treatment.
The majority of leprosy cases can now be cured with six months’ regular treatment with MDT. Persons with multi-bacillary leprosy, however, need at least two years’ MDT, said doctors.
Many affected people turned disabled as they failed to take treatment mainly due to stigma, negligence and non-availability of proper treatment.
In untreated cases of leprosy, nerve damage and other complications occur as the disease progresses. The numbness and loss of sensation due to nerve damage often leads to neglected injuries progressing to infected ulcers on the hands and feet, and then to the typical deformities of the face and limbs. In many communities, this leads to stigma towards those affected and their family members, causing them to be excluded from the society.
They are banned from attending family get-togethers, events and social and religious functions.
There is no place for social discrimination suffering from leprosy. Any form of discrimination against people affected by leprosy is a crime.
According to the TLMI-B, there are about 34,000 to 35,000 people in the country with deformity caused by the disease at the moment.
Those disabled due to leprosy need to learn some comprehensive care, which involves teaching patients to care for themselves. If the patients have significant nerve damage or are at high risk of developing deformities, they must be taught to take care of their insensitive limbs, similar to diabetics with lower leg nerve damage. Lacking the sensation of pain in many cases, the patients should constantly check themselves to identify cuts and bruises. If adequate care is not taken, these wounds become festering sores and a source of dangerous infection.
We should educate all on leprosy to promote early case detection and to accept full course of treatment.
We need to ensure that people in high risk areas have access to the services they need to treat the physical effects of leprosy as well as the social and psychological effects.
Leprosy victims suffer from stigma that deprives them of all other social and economic opportunities in life. Therefore, their rehabilitation through self-empowerment is another challenge towards helping them regain their personal dignity and their place in society.
We need to work to empower people whose self-esteem has been damaged by the effects of leprosy. It is needed to run empowerment workshops for people affected by leprosy and disability, teaching them how to challenge discrimination and overcome prejudice to improve the quality of life for themselves and others in the same position.
We should empower individuals, families, and communities affected by leprosy or at risk of the disease.
Such people often suffer from lack of choice and are usually powerless to change their situation. We should help them enlarge their choices, and to encourage and enable them to take part in decisions affecting their lives.
Empowerment enables each person affected by leprosy to reach their potential as a full participant in their community, which gives them pride, dignity, and a sense of worth.
We should work in partnership with individuals and communities affected by leprosy in order to restore and enhance human dignity, self-reliance, and quality of life.
Our endeavour should be to empower people affected by leprosy not just by providing a cure, but by addressing the underlying causes, working to prevent disability and by helping people and communities affected by leprosy to be equal members in society by providing appropriate medical, rehabilitative, educational and other services to meet their many needs.
Persons affected by leprosy, and their family members are entitled to all the human rights and international freedoms.
We should inform and educate the public and affected people about the facts of leprosy to reduce the stigma and facilitate inclusion of affected people in society.
It seems that persons affected leprosy (PAL) remained as service recipients or as beneficiaries. It is very much important to change this view and transform them into as partner. Representatives from organisations from PAL should be included in planning, monitoring and evaluation both at local and central level. The core theme should be ‘transformation of patients’ attitude from beneficiary to partnership.’
In our country, there is inadequate treatment facility for disability, caused by leprosy, and education on leprosy offered by our medical colleges is also not satisfactory.
It is needed to increase health services across the country, bring all the leprosy victims under appropriate treatment and ensure maintenance of their livelihood.
Under the present circumstances in our country, it can be said that leprosy is not only a medical problem but also an important social problem. It is urgently needed to raise an effective social awareness on leprosy, which brings massive sufferings and economic losses.
Mass media, folk artist groups, community and religious leaders can play an important role in raising the awareness and may ensure voluntary case reporting, early treatment, elimination of stigma and protection of the rights of the leprosy victims.
Better results would be derived if there is coordination between the government and NGOs over the leprosy control programme.
Though curable with timely intervention and its treatment is for free, leprosy is still prevailing in our country. We can build up a better Bangladesh by easily defeating the disease. All concerned should come forward to make Bangladesh a leprosy-free country in the greater interest of the nation.
Abul Hossain (not his real name), 35, a resident of Dhaka city and a garment worker, was diagnosed as a case of leprosy 15 days after his marriage. His wife divorced him because of leprosy infection. As his case was detected at early stage, he was recovered after taking treatment regularly.
The incident indicated that leprosy is curable with timely treatment. It also revealed that stigma is high surrounding the disease.
Leprosy is still a health problem in our country. Annually, on an average about 3,000 new leprosy cases are detected in the country in the recent years.
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by a specific small germ ‘Mycobacterium leprae.’ It mostly affects the peripheral nerves and the skin.
People with poor immunity are susceptible to the disease. Poverty, malnutrition and unhygienic living condition are the reasons of infection.
Leprosy is neither a curse and nor a hereditary disease.
According to The Leprosy Mission International-Bangladesh (TLMI-B), you can catch it only if you come into close and repeated contact with nose and mouth droplets from someone with untreated leprosy.
The best way to prevent leprosy is to reduce the sources of infection by early and adequate treatment of persons suffering from leprosy with multidrug therapy (MDT).
Persons affected by leprosy exhibit symptoms of pale and reddish skin, numbness of hands or feet or loss of feeling in a patch of skin.
It is extremely important to get treatment as soon as one is detected with leprosy. Treatment of leprosy is available for free in the country. Leprosy can cause permanent disabilities if left untreated.
TLMI-B sources said 209,543 new leprosy cases were detected in the country from 1985 till 2014. Of them, most were cured with regular treatment while 11 per cent turned disabled for their failure to take treatment.
The majority of leprosy cases can now be cured with six months’ regular treatment with MDT. Persons with multi-bacillary leprosy, however, need at least two years’ MDT, said doctors.
Many affected people turned disabled as they failed to take treatment mainly due to stigma, negligence and non-availability of proper treatment.
In untreated cases of leprosy, nerve damage and other complications occur as the disease progresses. The numbness and loss of sensation due to nerve damage often leads to neglected injuries progressing to infected ulcers on the hands and feet, and then to the typical deformities of the face and limbs. In many communities, this leads to stigma towards those affected and their family members, causing them to be excluded from the society.
They are banned from attending family get-togethers, events and social and religious functions.
There is no place for social discrimination suffering from leprosy. Any form of discrimination against people affected by leprosy is a crime.
According to the TLMI-B, there are about 34,000 to 35,000 people in the country with deformity caused by the disease at the moment.
Those disabled due to leprosy need to learn some comprehensive care, which involves teaching patients to care for themselves. If the patients have significant nerve damage or are at high risk of developing deformities, they must be taught to take care of their insensitive limbs, similar to diabetics with lower leg nerve damage. Lacking the sensation of pain in many cases, the patients should constantly check themselves to identify cuts and bruises. If adequate care is not taken, these wounds become festering sores and a source of dangerous infection.
We should educate all on leprosy to promote early case detection and to accept full course of treatment.
We need to ensure that people in high risk areas have access to the services they need to treat the physical effects of leprosy as well as the social and psychological effects.
Leprosy victims suffer from stigma that deprives them of all other social and economic opportunities in life. Therefore, their rehabilitation through self-empowerment is another challenge towards helping them regain their personal dignity and their place in society.
We need to work to empower people whose self-esteem has been damaged by the effects of leprosy. It is needed to run empowerment workshops for people affected by leprosy and disability, teaching them how to challenge discrimination and overcome prejudice to improve the quality of life for themselves and others in the same position.
We should empower individuals, families, and communities affected by leprosy or at risk of the disease.
Such people often suffer from lack of choice and are usually powerless to change their situation. We should help them enlarge their choices, and to encourage and enable them to take part in decisions affecting their lives.
Empowerment enables each person affected by leprosy to reach their potential as a full participant in their community, which gives them pride, dignity, and a sense of worth.
We should work in partnership with individuals and communities affected by leprosy in order to restore and enhance human dignity, self-reliance, and quality of life.
Our endeavour should be to empower people affected by leprosy not just by providing a cure, but by addressing the underlying causes, working to prevent disability and by helping people and communities affected by leprosy to be equal members in society by providing appropriate medical, rehabilitative, educational and other services to meet their many needs.
Persons affected by leprosy, and their family members are entitled to all the human rights and international freedoms.
We should inform and educate the public and affected people about the facts of leprosy to reduce the stigma and facilitate inclusion of affected people in society.
It seems that persons affected leprosy (PAL) remained as service recipients or as beneficiaries. It is very much important to change this view and transform them into as partner. Representatives from organisations from PAL should be included in planning, monitoring and evaluation both at local and central level. The core theme should be ‘transformation of patients’ attitude from beneficiary to partnership.’
In our country, there is inadequate treatment facility for disability, caused by leprosy, and education on leprosy offered by our medical colleges is also not satisfactory.
It is needed to increase health services across the country, bring all the leprosy victims under appropriate treatment and ensure maintenance of their livelihood.
Under the present circumstances in our country, it can be said that leprosy is not only a medical problem but also an important social problem. It is urgently needed to raise an effective social awareness on leprosy, which brings massive sufferings and economic losses.
Mass media, folk artist groups, community and religious leaders can play an important role in raising the awareness and may ensure voluntary case reporting, early treatment, elimination of stigma and protection of the rights of the leprosy victims.
Better results would be derived if there is coordination between the government and NGOs over the leprosy control programme.
Though curable with timely intervention and its treatment is for free, leprosy is still prevailing in our country. We can build up a better Bangladesh by easily defeating the disease. All concerned should come forward to make Bangladesh a leprosy-free country in the greater interest of the nation.
