The fight against leprosy has made a marked progress in the past two decades but complacency may now be threatening the last push towards a world free of this debilitating disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on the opening day of an International Leprosy Summit.WHO and the Nippon Foundation jointly organised the three-day summit in Bangkok, according to a message received here on Wednesday.
During the conference, health ministers from eight countries and global experts will discuss the current leprosy situation and strategies for further reducing the disease burden and realising a leprosy-free world.
The development of multidrug therapy in the 1980s effectively cured 16 million people in the past 20 years. But in many countries where the disease is endemic, new case-detection rates have been either static or showing increases. Globally, every two minutes, a new case of leprosy is detected and 7 out of every 10 cases is a child. Misinformation about leprosy is common and the disease continues to be shrouded in stigma with communities shunning patients even after they are cured.
Nearly 4,000 new leprosy patients were reported in Bangladesh during the year 2011, while most of the countries in the world have eliminated leprosy as a public health problem.
“Our challenge is to sustain the quality of leprosy services and to ensure that all persons affected by leprosy, wherever they live, have an equal opportunity to be diagnosed early and treated by competent health workers,” says Dr Samlee Plianbangchang, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia.
“While we’ve covered a lot of ground in reducing the disease burden in all endemic countries, there is no room for complacency. The final battle against leprosy is yet to be won.”
Yohei Sasakawa, chairman of the Nippon Foundation and WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, agreed with Dr Samlee and cautioned that the remaining challenges are becoming increasingly more difficult and complex.
“The target populations are living in difficult to reach areas such as urban slums, border areas and ethnic minority areas. Moreover, available resources in each country have declined,” he said.
He called on all parties involved to make political commitments and contribute resources and expertise to the fight against leprosy. To this end the Nippon Foundation will be committing US$ 20 million for the next five years, Sasakawa announced.
The Bangkok Declaration, to be adopted during the summit, is a recognition that further work needs to be done and reaffirms WHO and partners’ resolve to achieve a leprosy-free world. (Source: UNB)
