Dear Sir
Leprosy is one of the oldest diseases in human history. With the development of human civilization and social progress, the prevalence of this disease in the developed countries has come down at once. But in developing countries like ours, leprosy is still prevalent. Apart from Bangladesh, leprosy cases are being identified in India, Nepal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Congo and Tanzania.
Despite regular treatment of leprosy being a completely curable disease and leprosy treatment being provided free of cost in Bangladesh, the disease still remains a public health problem. According to The Leprosy Mission International-Bangladesh (TLMI-B), about 4,000 new leprosy cases are being identified in the country every year in recent years.
For thousands of years leprosy and leprosy sufferers were considered cursed and untouchable, and many were exiled, banished, or evicted. There are several problems in eradicating leprosy in Bangladesh. Officially, there is a lack of trained manpower to locate patients in remote areas and a lack of awareness-raising activities to eradicate superstitions surrounding the disease. Therefore, more allocation and trained manpower are needed to eradicate leprosy from the country.
Ashikujaman Syed
Research Assistant, Bioinformatics Research Lab, Centre for Research Innovation and Development
