Gateway to healing

In 2021, screening will be the focus of our projects in Congo and India. The importance of these cannot be overstated. Screening is the "gateway" to a cure, i.e. the detection of the problem and the start of the necessary treatment. The Leprosy Federation worldwide is a powerful promoter of painless but vital screening, so that people with leprosy do not hide their problem, but courageously reveal it! If we can convince as many people as possible to do this, we can save patients from the later effects of leprosy, which might otherwise be neglected for decades!

By the time a young child, like Ranil in the picture, gets to the professionals, the leprosy pathogen is already a vanquished enemy, as the drugs stop the infection in the body within a few hours! After that, the gradual cleansing and healing process begins. No one will ever know that Ranil had leprosy as a child! Screening tests will help you do that! But they not only start you on the road to recovery, they also save you from all the other serious consequences of leprosy: exclusion, uneducation, lack of livelihood. People who are "mapped" in screening tests also receive full help from the mission to sort out the rest of their lives!

In the vast Congo, the screening tests we support require a lot of time, long journeys and even more vigour and caution than usual from our staff during the epidemic. But the situation is similar in India, where screening campaigns are combined with follow-up care for patients already registered. The team from the Calcutta Mission Hospital, which we also support, is also travelling to the surrounding vast areas and screening the densely populated, very highly populated population. While the vast distances in the Congo, the huge population in India is the biggest challenge.