World Leprosy Day is known to be one of the health awareness days that are observed every last Sunday in January. The day is actually celebrated every 30th January on the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. This date was purposely chosen by the French humanitarian so as to pay tribute to the life of Mahatma Gandhi as it was usually understood that the importance of Leprosy and it was looked forward to the betterment of people who are affected with such disease.
This national day is celebrated with an aim for changing the attitude and enhancing public awareness about Leprosy or Hansen’s disease that can soon be prevented or cured.
World Leprosy Day theme
Every year The World Leprosy Day is celebrated with a theme that raises Public awareness about the infectious disease. Last year the theme of world leprosy day was ‘ending discrimination, stigma, and prejudice’, whereas this year the theme focuses on “Overturning the Stigma of Leprosy”
Health Condition: Leprosy
Leprosy is known to be is one of the oldest diseases that is recorded in the world. The health issue is an infectious chronic condition of the skin and the nerves and shall occur especially in the cooler parts of the body including hands, feet, and face. If the condition is not treated well or diagnosed quickly then it might result in some sort of debilitating disabilities.
The eventual mode of transmission of this health condition is not known, but the whole belief is that it is mostly transmitted by contact between the leprosy person and a healthy person. The health condition leprosy is curable with MDT (multidrug therapy) and if the treatment was done in the early stages further disability can be prevented well.
A Quick Fact Check about Leprosy
Approx. 600 or more people are diagnosed with Leprosy each day and also with the treatment. As per the statistics in 2014, approx. 213,899 people were diagnosed and it is further estimated that millions are more left undiagnosed.
As per the majority of some recent leprosy cases that have occurred in India, Indonesia, and Brazil where the diagnoses are usually delayed or limited access to health services or fear of stigma and discrimination might occur.
Leprosy's condition is also called Hansen disease that was named after the Norwegian physician, Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen, who had exposed the concept of leprosy that it is a hereditary health condition. He had stated that this particular health condition has a bacterial cause. For years, people with this condition have been stigmatized and are all considered for being at the extreme part of the society.
World Leprosy Day 2020, This Is How Leprosy Is Not Quite Yet A Disease Of The Past.
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