Photo : Messenger
World Health Day is celebrated on April 7 every year. This day has been celebrated all over the world since 1950, under the leadership of the World Health Organisation, to make people aware of various health-related issues. One of the objectives behind the observance of this day is to spread health awareness among every citizen of the world and improve the health system. According to the World Health Organization, the health rights of countless people around the world are constantly under threat. Diseases and disasters are emerging as causes of death and disability.
According to the WHO Council on Economics of Health for All, at least 140 countries in the world have recognised health as a human right in their constitutions but have not taken legal measures to ensure that their citizens have access to proper health care. This means that most of the world's population has been deprived of their rights to essential health services.
To address this issue, WHO has set the theme of World Health Day this year, “My Health, My Right”. This year's theme aims to highlight the importance of ensuring that everyone worldwide has access to quality health care, education, information, safe drinking water, clean air, good nutrition, quality housing, decent work and environmental conditions, and a life free of discrimination.
Leprosy, one of the national health problems, is the cause of national suffering in Bangladesh. Although it is a health problem, other social and economic problems have also arisen due to it. People have the right to be free from leprosy and the sufferings caused by leprosy and to live a healthy life.
Health is an essential part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Target 3.8 of the SDGs calls for ensuring universal health protection (e.g., protection from financial risks, access to quality essential health care). As part of the SDGs, every member state of the UN is committed to achieving universal health coverage by 2030. Hence, we should take the necessary steps so that we can ensure healthcare for all by that time.
Leprosy is a mild infectious disease. Leprosy usually impairs the patient's nerves. As a result, deformities occur. The disease starts with pale spots on the skin; sometimes a rash also appears. Despite various anti-leprosy activities at public and private levels, leprosy is identified as a problem in our country.
Citing the data of the WHO, the National Leprosy Programme, Directorate of Health, said that Bangladesh ranks 6th among the 23 countries with leprosy incidence in the world and Bangladesh ranks 10th in terms of the number of disabilities caused by leprosy. A large number of leprosy patients remain undetected in the country. Although 3000–3500 leprosy cases are diagnosed every year in Bangladesh, the actual number is more than twice that. These patients are later diagnosed with disabilities, but by then they become a burden on the country and the country loses its working population.
According to The Leprosy Mission International-Bangladesh (TLMI-B), an organisation working on leprosy, about 6% to 8% of identified leprosy patients later become paralysed due to a lack of timely treatment. Moreover, another 5% of patients initially face problems such as loss of hand sensation, which later becomes disabled due to a lack of appropriate treatment. For those who become disabled due to leprosy, arranging early reconstructive surgery for them can prevent disability. For this, it is necessary to arrange reconstructive surgery in the medical college hospitals of the country.
Early detection and treatment of leprosy is one of the strategies to eradicate leprosy. In places where leprosy is detected, there is a need to put the people who live around the detected patients, under preventive chemotherapy to keep them free from the disease. What we need is to take up a crash programme for identifying leprosy patients and bringing them under timely treatment. Hence, a comprehensive mass training and publicity programmes should be taken up to make people aware of the symptoms of leprosy.
Print and electronic media can also take special initiatives to create public awareness. Since this is essentially a public health problem, good results can be expected if the concerned public health professionals are actively employed in the formulation and implementation of the overall plan.
Considering this matter as a right of the people, necessary planning and its implementation are required. For implementing anti-leprosy programmes, it is necessary to keep adequate funds in the national budget. If this is not done, the anti-leprosy programmes will not be successful.
Due attention should be given to conducting anti-leprosy activities like surveys, skin camps, awareness programmes, training programmes for doctors, medical students, frontline health workers, local government institutions, volunteers and others.
Leprosy is a treatable disease and its treatment and test are available free of charge across the country. Disability occurs if treatment is delayed. The disability caused by leprosy is the main reason for the superstition surrounding the disease. So, the affected people must be treated in time to prevent disability.
People with leprosy in Bangladesh, and even their family members, face leprosy-related prejudice and discrimination. People affected by leprosy face barriers to education, employment and participation in social activities due to the disease. Persons affected by leprosy and their family members face deprivation from the benefits of economic development.
Bangladesh is now working towards building a 'Smart Bangladesh' which aims to work towards a prosperous, egalitarian and sustainable future, with no place for prejudice and discrimination of any kind. It is not possible to build 'Smart Bangladesh' if there is prejudice and discrimination. That is, if there is leprosy and leprosy-related sufferings, 'Smart Bangladesh' will not be formed.
On November 12, 2023, the 2nd National Leprosy Conference was held in Dhaka under the initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The conference was held with the goal of making Bangladesh a leprosy-free country by 2030.
Bangladesh has launched its National Leprosy Strategy (2023-2030), which calls for a strong national leprosy programme, integrated case detection, integrated case management, and community-based inclusive implementation.
Bangladesh has announced to create a leprosy-free country by 2030. Now it is necessary to formulate the necessary plan for its implementation. If this is not done, it will not be possible to create a leprosy-free country by 2030.
The spirit of the World Health Day is to promote healthy lives for all. Let us work together with that spirit to defeat leprosy and make Bangladesh Smart and healthy place.
The writer is a freelance journalist. He can be reached at [email protected].
Messenger/Fameema
