Year: 2001
Type: editorial
Abstract: A young man presents to your local c1inic in a leprosy endernic country with a small patch of discoloured skin on his right forearm.The diagnosis is c1ear.You start to explain, but the man stops you: he doesn't want to hear more, just requests the medicine.But you are 'in conflict', and not just by the desire to discuss the situation more fully with your patient before prescribing a drog.The local public health team, of which you are a part, is currently evaluating the impact on the community's health of a patient education programme which necessitates informing ali new leprosy cases of their diagnosis.What should you do?And can bio-ethics help? Control of leprosyThis story will be familiar to many health care professionals who work in leprosy endemic countries.Clinically, the primary aim of intervention is to treat patients in order to achieve their cure, and to prevent the development of associated deformities.Broader objectives of leprosy control, however, are to interrupt transmission of the infection, thereby reducing the incidence of disease so that it no longer constitutes a public health problem. 1 Prompt treatment of alI existing and newly detected cases with multi-drug therapy (MDT) is the principal method currently used.The most cost-effective approach for case-finding is the promotion of self-reporting of suspect lesions through increased community awareness about the disease and this requires the patient to be informed of the diagnosis.This approach should be supported by efficient and easily accessible treatment services for the community. Public heaIth and the control of infectious diseasesFor those of us working in the field of public health, our role is to work together 'to provi de the conditions in which people can be healthy' . 2 Rather than simply focusing our attention on the individual, the patient above for example, our role is to also look at the health of the wider
Source: Leprosy Review
Authors: JOHN D. H. PORTER, ANTHONY S. KESSEL
Institution: London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W92909328