Fr. Andrew Campbell, an Irish Divine Word Missionary Priest working in Ghana has been praised as a hero in championing the fight against stigmatisation of persons with leprosy and for supporting their treatment and rehabilitation.
Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, Member of Parliament for Korley Klottey Constituency in the Greater Accra Region in a statement she delivered at Ghana’s Parliament House in Accra recently said: “He deserves special recognition and mention for devoting his life to showing love and care for persons with leprosy,” the Member of Parliament for Korley Klottey Constituency,
Dilating on “the call to action to end discrimination against persons with leprosy”, she told the lawmakers that “Fr. Campbell’s selflessness, love, care, and advocacy has contributed significantly to improving a lot of people living with leprosy in Ghana.”
For his many years’ efforts in fighting against stigmatisation of lepers in the West African country, Dr. Rawlings indicated that “If Fr. Campbell and his team of volunteers can do so much to alleviate the plight of cured lepers, then as a nation we can do more.”
73-year old Fr. Campbell has worked in Ghana as a missionary priest of the Society of Divine Word (SVD) since October 1971 after his ordination in December 1970. While in Ghana, he founded the Lepers Aid Committee (LAC) in 1993, comprising mainly of young who devote themselves to the care of cured lepers in Ghana.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the global prevalence of leprosy at the end of 2015 was 176,176 cases representing 0.2 cases per 10,000 people. The number of new cases reported globally in 2015 was 211,973 (2.9 cases per 100,000). This number of new cases indicates a pattern of continued transmission of infection.
The world commemorates Leprosy Day on the last Sunday of every year, a day set aside to raise awareness about the disease and call attention to the fact that it can be prevented, treated and cured.
Reports from the Lepers Aid Committee indicate that approximately 1,000 people are living with leprosy in Ghana, however, informatively leprosy has been eliminated as a public health problem in Ghana, this Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, daughter of former Ghanaian President J.J Rawlings, stated that “sustained efforts must be made to keep the disease at bay, lest we risk the virtual possibility of resurgence.”
She commended the LAC for striving to bring to the fore of the public “the need to help one another and to fight for the rights and needs of cured lepers and to bring back their livelihood” as well as “helping to reduce and eliminate the stigmatisation and discrimination against cured lepers.” LAC caters for the well-being, food, clothing, medical and domestic bills and even arranges for burial of some deceased lepers.
Also known as the Hansen’s disease, she noted that “leprosy is a disease that has been mostly forgotten or placed on the back burner of health care priorities,” stating that “let us focus on the plight of the 1,000 plus people in Ghana living with the disease.”
On improving the living conditions of cured lepers in Ghana, the young Ghanaian Parliamentarian stated that although there has been a marked improvement in the treatment and support for persons with leprosy, a lot more needs to be done to improve their living conditions.
She said despite daily feeding fee for lepers has been increased to GHc1.00 and with the trying economic conditions in the country, the amount was woefully inadequate and suggested the review of the figure “to reflect the current economic situation and to alleviate the plight of our brothers and sisters with leprosy.”
According to Dr. Rawlings, one of the main challenges confronting persons with leprosy is stigmatisation and discrimination, saying that they are marginalised and treated with scorn within their communities. This, she said leads to situations where the disease goes unreported and people refusing to seek early treatment for fear of being marginalised.
“There is the need for concerted effort towards ending discrimination against persons with disability and I call on government, the clergy, Civil Society Organisations, traditional authorities, politicians and all facets of society to join the fight discrimination and stigmatisation against affected people,” she implored.
Dr. Zanetor stressed that lepers “need our love, care and support,” stating that since leprosy often starts as a harmless skin patch which is mistaken for common skin condition, “it is imperative to encourage people to report any kind of skin lesion for proper diagnosis to be made and the right treatment administered. This way, the disease can be cured and the consequent disability prevented.”
“We must also work towards ensuring that the drugs to treat leprosy are readily available so that disease can be managed within communities”, she stated, pointing out that “the national referral hospital must be adequately resourced to be better placed to support the prevention and management of disabilities in persons affected by leprosy.”
She reiterated the need for leprosy to be reviewed as a matter of urgency given increasing number of reported cases. “There is no doubt that public education must be intensified on early detection, prevention and treatment in order to de-stigmatise leprosy and those who have diagnosed with it,” she added.
During the January 26, 2020 celebration of the 2020 Leprosy Day at the Eyindakrom Leprosarium, near Cape Coast in the Central Region, Fr. Campbell, called on government through the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to speed up the process of placing inmates of the Ankaful (Central Region), Kokofu (Ashanti Region) and Nkanchina (Northern Region) Leprosaria on the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) programme.
Fr. Campbell said that “this is something we have to follow through to make sure that you (the cured lepers) are on the LEAP programme,” adding that “It is the least we can do for you, to make sure that every month you get some subsidy from the government.”
He told the inmates that “any occasion I keep on asking the Vice President to the Ministers of State to increase the money, because GHc30 a month ($5.38), which is GHc 1.00 a day ($0.18), is not very much. So I will keep on asking to increase it to more than GHc 1.00 a day for you. I will continue to fight for you so that more is added to the GHc1.00 to help you to live.”
He noted that “even those in prison in Ghana get food worth GHc 1.80 every day, and here you are in a place like this and it is not your fault that you have leprosy, and you get less than they (prisoners) get. You should get more, so we will keep on pressing the government to give you more than GHc1.00 a day.”
