By Rebecca Sedinam Affor
Today marks World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Day. Neglected Tropical Diseases are diseases caused as a result of people not having access to clean water or safe ways to dispose of human waste, among other factors, and this is especially common in tropical areas such as Africa, Asia, and America.
A special program was established by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Research and Training in Tropical Disease (TDR) to focus and bring an end to these diseases.
Leprosy is among the many World Neglected Tropical Diseases, which is caused by organisms (micro bacterial Leprosy) and is transmitted from an infected person.
Program Manager for Leprosy at the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Benedict Okokwa, speaking on NTDs as Ghana marks the day, said that there are myths around leprosy that people believe in.
“Leprosy is no longer in existence, and people associate leprosy with being a spiritual disease.”
“Leprosy is curable, and once it is detected early, it can be treated within six to twelve months with no evidence of the disease before the disability stage,” he said.
He says that leprosy does not kill.
It makes one less economically active and stigmatizes them when they are affected by leprosy.
“Leprosy is mostly suffered by the lower income class.”
He concluded that there are forty of such diseases in Ghana and it is put under the (NTDs).
For now, the goal is to bring the issues to the attention of the government, Organisation, health sectors, and the public as a whole so that collectively, measures can be put in place to help eradicate the menace.
