This Sunday is World Leprosy Day. The World Health Organization describes it as a day to make the global community aware that leprosy is easily curable. This essential messaging is laudable. Despite being curable since 1982, leprosy remains steeped in prejudice and misunderstandings.
People need to be aware of the early signs and encouraged to go to their nearest health post. They can then be treated with multidrug therapy, a combination of three antibiotics, to stop the disease in its tracks. It's paramount that this happens before disability sets in.
In Nigeria thousands of people have summoned the courage to do just this. Yet they have been deprived of the treatment they so desperately need. And all because of a bureaucratic critical supply chain crisis. On Sunday, many will take to the streets of the capital Abuja to call on the Nigerian government to intervene for an end to the treatment crisis.
The multidrug therapy supply delay to Nigeria is a result of procedural bottlenecks. The failure of the pharmaceutical suppliers to meet Nigeria's regulatory requirements is also to blame. There has been no multidrug therapy in Nigeria for 11 months now. Yet, heartbreakingly, there are 3,000 people waiting for treatment, including 800 children.
Those waiting include little Nasiru who you can see pictured. The young boy from Kebbi State was able to start leprosy treatment but not able to complete it. This little 10-year-old's life changed when leprosy left his fingers too weak to write. This forced him to drop out of school. His father, a farmer, recognised the symptoms all too well. He had seen them before in his wife, Ramatu. He sought the help of a community health worker to get a diagnosis for his son. The same disease left his mother with permanently clawed fingers because she was diagnosed too late.
Thankfully Nasiru was diagnosed and started treatment quickly, offering hope of a full recovery. Yet he and his family's hopes have been dashed because of the nationwide multidrug therapy shortage, cutting short his treatment. Nasiru's fingers have now curled further into his palms. He is likely to develop irreversible disabilities which will affect the young boy's opportunities for the future.
Nasiru's story is an incredibly painful reminder of the devastating impact of medicine shortages. He and thousands more are needlessly suffering as a result of a failed supply chain.
Sunday's rally in Abuja is organised by IDEA-Nigeria, the National Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy. Meanwhile in Lagos, members of Purple Hope, another leprosy-affected people's organisation, will also be campaigning. They say the non-availability of multidrug therapy in Nigeria shows the highest level of government insensitivity to the plight of its vulnerable citizens.
We at The Leprosy Mission globally stand with these vulnerable citizens of Nigeria. We read in the Gospels how Jesus gave complete healing to people with leprosy – physically, emotionally and socially. So we call on the Nigerian government to intervene for an end to the treatment crisis. In the UK we have taken the injustice to UK parliamentarians. As a global community we have a moral duty to do all we can to bring their treatment to them urgently.
Please do share this post to raise awareness of the injustice of this critical supply chain issue.
