There are as many ways to mark World Leprosy Day as the imagination and creativity of those who plan the celebrations.

GERMANY
In the run-up to World Leprosy Day Dr Adolf Diefenhardt, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Deutsche Lepra- und Tuberkulosehilfe (DAHW) was asked by journalists if it is possible to catch leprosy while in India, Brazil or Kenya, since a man had been diagnosed with leprosy in early January in a clinic in Münster, following his return from a trip to Brazil. He told them “Every case of ‘flu is more infectious”. He noted that there is only a risk of catching leprosy if one has intensive and prolonged contact with someone, who has been infected with the leprosy bacillus, which is why it is so important to catch cases of leprosy early, so that the chances of transmitting this disease to others is reduced. Once a person is taking treatment for leprosy, they cease to be infectious. On World Leprosy Day Dr Diefenhardt expressed the worry that it is taking too long to detect cases of leprosy because knowledge of leprosy has declined. He stressed that people with leprosy should be found earlier, because although the number of new cases is remaining steady, the number of people who already have an impairment when they are diagnosed is increasing. Dr Diefenhardt also spoke of the need to improve understanding of why one person gets leprosy, whilst their neighbour does not. He highlighted the need to continue pushing forward research in three areas: the whereabouts of mycobacterium lepræ outside the human body, the development of more rapid means of diagnosing leprosy, and the pursuance of shorter treatment regimens. Importantly, discrimination towards persons affected by leprosy must be ended. Fear of being isolated by their communities is still the reason why so many patients present themselves late at a health post. DAHW’s partner in Pakistan, Dr Ruth Pfau, appealed for an end to stigma.

SPAIN
Fontilles in Spain began its series of events with a conference about the history of its sanatorium San Francisco de Borja in Alicante. When they met with the mass media on 26th January, they stressed how leprosy can affect the lives of persons affected with leprosy and their family members, long after they have been cured. Their campaign used the slogan “Your help is their future: so leprosy does not mark their lives”. An exhibition was shown in Denia and Valencia. Volunteers provided information about leprosy to passers by at various points in Valencia on 28th January. Solidarity festivals were held in Valencia and El Campello on World Leprosy Day itself: these consisted of street theatre, recreational activities for children and other ways of raising awareness about leprosy. The following day participants were able to learn about Fontilles’ work at home and abroad at a conference in Zaragoza hosted by Fontilles. And on February 5th there was a solidarity ballet that had been organised by one of their volunteer groups.       

THE NETHERLANDS
The head office of Netherlands Leprosy Relief held a special seminar on stigma in general, and stigma in The Netherlands, in Amsterdam, on the Friday before World Leprosy Day. It was reported that research into stigma in The Netherlands had revealed that there are currently approximately 400 former leprosy patients living in this country, who are affected by stigma, including self-stigma. Two individuals who had been cured of leprosy were interviewed, to which coverage was given in the press, on the radio and twitter. The media highlighted the delays in diagnosing leprosy in Holland. All of the five to ten people in The Netherlands, who are diagnosed with leprosy, have been infected overseas. The attendees saw Dr Yamin Hasibuan receive the ChangeALife-Award. On the choice of Dr Hasibuan, Netherlands Leprosy Relief will put € 5,000 towards training local prostheses makers in Indonesia.

LUXEMBOURG
Communications staff of the Fondation Follereau Luxembourgeoise (FFL) had articles published in various Luxembourg papers such as Le Luxemburger Wort, Tageblatt, Journal, Le Quotidien, Le Jeudi and L’Essentiel. Adverts were placed in the press throughout January. Their Director, Mr Robert Kohll, gave a radio interview and a documentary about their work was transmitted on RTL, which was also available on Euronews in different languages. They sent a special edition of their bulletin for World Leprosy Day to 216,000 households. The middle of the bulletin contained a detachable file of information about leprosy for teachers and pupils of primary schools. FFL focussed their campaign on the numbers of children who are still affected by leprosy in certain pockets in Mali. FFL addressed a letter to parish priests in which there were many references to their founder Raoul Follereau and quoted him saying of a person affected by leprosy: “He simply wants to be a person. A person who works and who sings”. FFL referred to the fact that these days the media do not view stories about leprosy as scoops, citing Bernard Kouchner’s “plus de cameras de television, plus de malheur” (“TV cameras gone, hardship gone”). 

USA
American Leprosy Missions (ALM) reported that over 450 churches in America and Canada remembered persons affected by leprosy on World Leprosy Day, making use of materials they had jointly prepared with The Leprosy Mission Canada: sermon notes, selected prayers and hymns, suggested activities for children of various ages, a fact sheet about leprosy and a video, The Two Paths of Leprosy, describing this disease and the impact it can have on lives, as also the work of ALM. 

FRANCE
The Follereau organisation based in Paris, the Fondation Raoul Follereau (FRF), ran their World Leprosy Day campaign under the slogan “The leprosy bacillus is still circulating” with TV and radio spots, press releases and street collections throughout France by their volunteers. FRF informed its supporters of its increased focus on preventing disability among persons affected by leprosy, enhancing the quality of their care, supporting research into prevention of leprosy, simplification of treatment regimens and better knowledge about mycobacterium lepræ and managing programmes tailored to the needs of specific countries. A range of posters stamped with “Leprosy excludes” illustrated the persistent discrimination and stigmatisation faced by persons affected by leprosy around the world.

CAMEROON
“Attention: Leprosy is still among us” was the slogan used by colleagues of FAIRMED Health for the Poorest in Cameroon. They concentrated many of their World Leprosy Day activities at the Jamot Centre, originally built for persons affected by leprosy, but now a general hospital. 200 people came to a screening for leprosy, and two new cases were diagnosed. On World Leprosy Day representatives of Anhalcam (the national association of those with disabilities due to leprosy) and Assanec (an association fighting discrimination against those who have been cured of leprosy) made speeches. The First Lady of Cameroon also attended. Speaking on behalf of her association, CERAC (The Circle of the Friends of Cameroon), she assured those who have been cured of leprosy of the government’s continuing preoccupation with their living conditions. From 17th – 22nd January they ran a stand, through the Ministry of Health, at the Agro Pastoral Show in Ebolowa Town in the south, Where they distributed books, leaflets and other materials to the public about leprosy. In the north of this country at the Foubarka Hospital for persons affected by leprosy, the Mayor, the Sub-Prefect and the Director of the Hospital gave speeches to the public. Among national media activities, was the broadcast on national television of a documentary about FAIRMED’s anti-leprosy work in the Cameroon over the past fifty years.

SENEGAL
A leprosy village called Mballing, which was set up in 1955 by colonial administrators as a “village de reclassement social”, was the focal point for World Leprosy Day celebrations in Senegal this year. Around 500 people from Mballing and eight other similar leprosy villages and some locals took part. Speeches, sketches performed by youngsters, and a dance by handicapped and non-handicapped dancers, were all used to demonstrate that leprosy can be cured and that social integration is possible. Individuals wore T-shirts bearing the slogan “No to exclusion – yes to reintegration!” emphasising their fight against discrimination. Speaking on behalf of today’s inhabitants, who are the healthy children of persons who had been isolated in such villages because they had leprosy, Cheikh Gning, appealed to the Minister for Social Action and National Solidarity, Thérèse Coumba Diop, to speak to the President of the Republic on their behalf. She reassured those in the villages de reclassement social that she supports repeal of law 76-03, and its decree 548, which confines, to this day, inhabitants to these leprosy villages. Director of the Primary School in Mballing explained: “What we want is for our village to evolve with villages that bear no labels”.

GUINEA
In Macenta, Guinea, World Leprosy Day was marked by a walk through the town organised by representatives of the Fondation Raoul Follereau. Speeches were made by the head of their prevention of disability and socio-economic rehabilitation project and three former leprosy patients gave accounts of their experience of this disease. On the Friday leading up to World Leprosy Day a car toured through the main streets of Macenta, allowing collaborators of the prevention of disability and socio-economic rehabilitation project and former patients to raise awareness about leprosy. They wore T-shirts bearing the slogan: “Let’s love each other, as God loved us”. 

TANZANIA
Deutsche Lepra- und Tuberkulosehilfe representatives organised a press conference and participated in a radio question and answer session in Tanzania. They focussed the theme on preventing disabilities as a result of leprosy, under the slogan “Use special shoes to avoid disabilities”. Their chief guest of honour was the newly appointed Health Minister of Zanzibar, who is also the Secretary General of the Tanzania Leprosy Association.

ETHIOPIA
Participants from the Ethiopian National Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (ENAPAL), public and various state and non-state actors took part in celebrations, which were held in Jimma Town, Oromiya, with two-days of activities building up to the highlights on World Leprosy Day itself. Celebrations began with a welcoming ceremony on 28th January: the mayor and several government officials invited guests to a coffee ceremony and a visit to the Aba Jifar Museum. After walking to Jimma Square, a welcoming speech was made, a band played a song that had been specially prepared for the occasion and everyone gathered in the square participated in a candle lighting ceremony. The meeting hall at Jimma University was packed for a panel discussion on the second day when four papers raising awareness about leprosy were presented: three by medical doctors and one by ENAPAL on the social impact of leprosy. Visits were made to a number of projects that afternoon. Celebrations began early on World Leprosy Day with members of the community from surrounding areas marching to the stadium in Jimma. Men and women competed in a bicycle race. Topics relating to the day were discussed live on an Addis Ababa radio station for an hour. The panellists included representatives of the Federal Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and representatives of the Deutsche Lepra- und Tuberkulosehilfe. They not only provided information about the cause and cure of leprosy, but also about the rehabilitation of persons affected by leprosy and the stigma they face and the public’s role in this, but also answered questions telephoned in by members of the public. For the first time they sent to members of the public text messages with the chosen slogan for the day: “Leprosy is not hereditary: it is curable, persons affected by it are part and parcel of the country’s development plan.”

INDIA
In India, the Orissa office of LEPRA-India observed World Leprosy Day in Bhubaneswar jointly with the Hind Kusth Nivaran Sangh (HKNS), the State Leprosy Cell of the Government of Orissa. The Honourable Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Sri Prasanna Kumar Acharya, chaired a meeting attended by a host of people. The Secretary of the HKNS reported on activities of the past twelve months and their future plans. A colleague of LEPRA-India emphasised all it is doing to strengthen activities to prevent disability and to provide rehabilitation, especially providing reconstructive surgery across the State through ten referral centres. Five individuals were congratulated on their outstanding contribution to anti-leprosy efforts over the last year and awarded “Best Leprosy Worker” by HKNS: Ms Sunita of LEPRA-India, a physiotherapist in a leprosy referral centre, and four government staff who work at grassroots level. At the end of the function, the National Institute of Rehabilitation Training and Research (NIRTAR) presented ten persons affected by leprosy with tricycles. The Honourable Minister urged all to continue making progress to free Orissa of leprosy through the creation of “leprosy-free villages”. An Intensive Case Detection Drive was launched by the Honourable Minister of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of Orissa, which will include information education communication activities, to screen for leprosy cases in 50 high prevalence blocks. Sarah Nancollas, the Chief Executive of LEPRA Health in Action, joined events organised by their Hyderabad office, including the Walk for Leprosy through the centre of Hyderabad, for which some major roads were closed, beginning at 06.45. She kept fans posted on their Facebook site: 
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=10150131001416079&id=105323296078&aid=320772 Dr Ranganadha Rao, Chief Executive of LEPRA Society, ensured the ILEP President’s World Leprosy Day was translated into vernacular languages so that it would reach as wide an audience of possible.

ILEP President’s World Leprosy Day Message was disseminated to all the districts in States supported by the Netherlands Leprosy Relief (NLR) in India. 20 districts reported rallies organised by schools and colleges for World Leprosy Day. Health camps were organised in five districts. Blankets were distributed to those who needed them in 11 districts and crutches were supplied to those who needed them in three districts and micro cellulose rubber footwear to those who need it in three districts. In addition, colleagues of NLR raised awareness through advocacy efforts, the mass media and meetings. In line with the new NLR strategy, the rehabilitation services they support for persons affected by leprosy were extended to persons with disabilities from other causes to help erase stigma towards persons affected by leprosy.  

SRI LANKA
The FAIRMED Representative in Sri Lanka reported that the Health Ministry announced it will build a museum on the premises of the Hendala Leprosy Hospital, which the Dutch finished building in 1708, to preserve the old equipment used to treat leprosy patients. In collaboration with the Health Education Bureau, the Health Ministry conducted a public clinic at the Milagiriya temple in Polonnaruwa. The Health Education Bureau also organised a media seminar and a study visit to Hendala for journalists. Mr Wickramasinghe, the Anti-Leprosy Director, told them that although numbers of people with leprosy is now low, many have impairments caused by leprosy at the time they are diagnosed.

The above descriptions offer just a small snapshot into the many events and activities that ILEP Members organised to mark World Leprosy Day 2011 and recognise that it is not possible to pay full justice to them all in one article.

Categories: Members, News and Notes