domingo, janeiro 28, 2007
World Leprosy Day
As the Global Strategy for Further Reducing the Leprosy Burden and Sustaining Leprosy Control Activities 2006-2010 - a natural evolution of the WHO’s Strategic Plan - is well under way, few noises can be heard from the designated agencies to address the remaining challenges and further reduce the disease burden due to leprosy. In fact the apprehension that it may become increasingly difficult to maintain public and government interest in leprosy, as the disease burden reduces further, seems to have come true already now, when in reality the incidence of the disease is still high.
It cannot be denied that there are needs from other health issues such as AIDS, for instance, which require immediate attention and efforts. However they should not be seen as more serious than leprosy and be given priority over it. But they are, and leprosy is therefore being pushed to the backbenches thus surely losing the “competition” for world attention and assistance.
Political compulsions have certainly influenced the approach to the treatment and care of the hansenians. In this fast growing global economy, the endgame of the rush for recognition either for the position of rising economies or for the condition of recipients of aid is undisputedly affected by the policies of the countries involved in the area of health. Undoubtedly a country aspiring to the classification of “emerging economy” cannot afford to have large numbers of people affected by leprosy and, conversely, a country applying for loans from the World Bank cannot show to rely on missionaries and NGOs to defeat leprosy. The concept of integration has therefore responded to the anxieties of both and provided a solution pleasing everybody.
Few are now those left to continue the painstaking work of care of the hansenians in the name of love and compassion, and even fewer are those who try to combine such spirit with the urgency of the government policies, so that the patients may avail themselves of the fruit of both.
Thus MAITRI has been straddling these two apparently wide apart worlds and, although we may see the futility of some policies, we keep campaigning for the official ‘hard’ cure while spreading drops of hope with our humanitarian care and support.
