So now, at 25, Chotey is cured. He’s been given a second chance; training in bicycle maintenance and book binding to help him get a stable job, and the much sought-after prospect of financial security. Chotey will no longer appear on any leprosy-associated register or be included in any government statistics. It’s a story of success. So why is Chotey still begging on the streets of Delhi?
A major milestone
On 29 January 2006 – World Leprosy Day – India’s government made an announcement that will have far-reaching implications for all countries still struggling with a back-breaking burden of leprosy. The government declared that India has eliminated leprosy as a public health problem. According to the latest figures released by the Indian government, the number of people currently registered to receive treatment for this disease has dropped to 1 in 10,000 of the population – the official marker for elimination.
India’s fight against leprosy has been fuelled by task-focused targets from the World Health Organisation (WHO). In 1991 India was given a deadline to eliminate leprosy by 2000. Then in 1999, when hitting this seemed unlikely, the deadline date was changed to 2005.
Now the Indian government proclaims that its hard work has been rewarded; the tables of statistics supplied by the government health department display what everyone wants to see – a downward sloping graph and more districts than ever before achieving elimination. In a culture where Western prosperity mixes uncomfortably with third-world poverty, a disease as old as leprosy is ugly and out of place – it doesn’t fit in with India’s 21st century dreams for itself.
And although on the face of it the figures look healthy, this new post-elimination era needs to be welcomed cautiously.
‘The general public does not know the public health definition of elimination and eradication,’ says Jeyakumar Daniel, The Leprosy Mission’s (TLM) director for South Asia.
‘There is a possibility that people will misunderstand and think that leprosy does not exist anymore, like smallpox. And the political commitment to people with leprosy will be low as the disease is no longer seen as a public health problem.
‘There is a reduction in the number of patients registered as being on treatment in comparison to the high prevalence in the ’80s,’ continues Jeyakumar. ‘We need to celebrate this reduction but with
caution; new cases will continue to occur and patients with disabilities still exist and require care.’
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08 March 2006
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