Leprosy or leprosy is a chronic bacterial infection that attacks the skin, peripheral nerves, and respiratory tract. Unfortunately, the elimination of leprosy in Indonesia still faces many obstacles.
General Secretary of the Association of Dermatologists and Venereologists (Perdoski) Sri Linuwih Menaldi, stated that one of the biggest obstacles in eliminating leprosy is self-stigma and social stigma. Patients and their families are afraid when they are known to be sick which results in reluctance to seek treatment, self-isolation, and ongoing transmission.
“Besides that, there are geographical constraints and health service facilities,” said Sri in the Media Briefing for World Leprosy Day, Monday (31/12). Currently, six provinces in Indonesia have not reached leprosy-free, namely Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, Maluku, North Maluku, Papua, and West Papua. Nevertheless, preventive efforts continue to be carried out by strengthening public health and education.
Leprosy is characterized by weakness or numbness in the legs. This disease is spread through splashes of saliva or phlegm that come out when coughing or sneezing. A person can be infected with leprosy if they have contact with an infected person for a long time. However, it will not be infected just by shaking hands or sitting together. Leprosy may also be transmitted by the mother to the fetus in the womb.
Chairman of the Executive Board of the Indonesian Association of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Specialists, Tirza Z. Tamin, said leprosy is a disease with very complex problems. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued the Global Leprosy Strategy 2021-2030 with a target of zero cases of leprosy, disability, stigma, and discrimination. “The global target by 2030 is 120 countries have reached zero leprosy cases,” said Tirza.
In the short term, there should be a 70% reduction in new cases with a 90% reduction in children per million population. People with leprosy have a number of physical characteristics, including patches on the skin that can cause blindness.
In addition, factors that can increase the risk of leprosy are contact with animals that cause leprosy bacteria such as chimpanzees and armadillos, staying and visiting leprosy endemic areas, and having a system of body disorders.
The danger of leprosy symptoms at first is not obvious. In fact, in some cases the symptoms of leprosy can only be seen after the leprosy bacteria have proliferated in the patient’s body for 20-30 years. Some of the symptoms of leprosy that sufferers can feel are numbness in the skin, pale lesions appear, and sores appear but do not feel pain.
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