In Nigeria, the neighbouring country of Cameroon, each year some 5‘000 new cases of leprosy are registered. In many regions this is only the tip of the iceberg as there are many people affected by leprosy that never find their way to medical treatment - either because there is no health service available or because medication is missing.
The operation theatre of Abakaliki before the renovation
In Abakaliki, in the south-west of the country close to the border of Cameroon, FAIRMED supports the Hospital «Mile 4» through its partner organisation GLRA (Germany). There people affected by leprosy get treatment. For many handicapped this is the only help close by. At «Mile 4» there are doctors that take care of reconstructive surgery. But the operation theatre is sorely in need of a renovation. With 30'000 Swiss francs FAIRMED renovated the operation theatre and equipped it.
In Ethiopia leprosy is still a reality, too. Each year more than 4'000 new cases are detected and hundreds of thousands are suffering from deformities due to leprosy. Often the diagnosis is connected with financial ruin for the people affected. Employees lose their jobs; farmers cannot work in their fields anymore. Ulcers threaten everyone that keeps working. Often poverty and dependence are the result.
FAIRMED's German partner organisation GLRA has been active in the fight against leprosy in Ethiopia for more than 50 years. They have started a project to strengthen the self-help capacities of people affected by leprosy in order for them to start self-help groups. These «CBOs» (Community based organisations) assist their members in creating their own income source and strengthen their self-confidence. With micro-credits they create new stores or open up workshops. Thus they can provide for themselves and send their children to school. Within the project also professional education for adults is financed.
Social workers accompany the self-help groups as their members are often hardly educated and mostly extremely poor. They teach how to open bank accounts and how to plan for the future. More than 20 such groups have been established since 2009 with more than 1000 members. The objective is to break the vicious circle of poverty and disease.
Of the 17 countries in the world that reported more than 1000 new cases to the WHO in 2008, eight are in Africa: Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania.
The number of new leprosy victims discovered in the whole of Africa each year continues to be in excess of 25 ’000. Since the health systems in many countries operate badly it must be assumed that there is a large number of unreported cases. Therefore the fight against leprosy continues unabated in all the affected countries of Africa, often under the most difficult conditions.
In addition to our direct commitment in Cameroon and the CAR, we also support the work of the Italian leprosy relief organisation AIFO (Associazione Italiana Amici di Raoul Follereau) in Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau.
Our partners are members of ILEP (International Federation of Anti-Lepra Associations), just as Fairmed.
Further information on leprosy can be found here.
Further information on ILEP can be found here.