From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:NIGERIA: LEPROSY VICTIMS RESISTING INTERGRATION
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 23:05:51 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1993, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: NIGERIA: LEPROSY VICTIMS RESISTING INTERGRATION


an inter press service feature

by ebunoluwa okusanya

iberekodo, nigeria, jan 19 (ips) -- cured victims of leprosy at
the iberekodo leper colony in the western state of ogun are
resisting government efforts to reintergrate them into society.

in line with worldwide guidelines for the treatment of
leprosy, the nigerian government has since 1989 endeavoured to
gradually return cured leprosy victims to their communities.

furthermore, leper colonies here now concentrate on the
provision of clinical services for the contagious skin ailment
which causes serious and permanent damage to the limbs and
facial features.

''we have not been allowing lepers to reside at the
settlement since 1988. if they are allowed to grow up within
their family circles it will guard against the discrimination
which people tend to have against them'', says festus akintunde,
a supervisory health official at the colony.

but, fearful of an unsympathetic society that regards victims
of the disease as outcasts, the lepers are reluctant to go out
into society after they are cured.

isaiah adagbona, 63, who has lived in the leper colony here
since 1963 when he was first diagnosed with the disease has now
been certified cured and ready to return to his community.

but adagbona, whose missing right leg and the scars on face
bear testimony to his long years of battle with leprosy, says he
does not want to leave the colony because he is afraid to mix
with the public.

the case of adagbona, mirrors the fear of being shunned which
assails many of the 115 inmates of this colony when the time
comes for them to be reintergrated into a society which regards
leprosy as a curse.

''most of the remaining inmates are those who are badly
deformed and refused to go home when they were asked to'', says
akintunde, adding that public enlightenment programmes will help
reduce the stigma against lepers, particularly the cured ones.

even the healthy offspring of former lepers have had to
bear the burden of an unsympathetic society.

''apart from going to school, i can't go out to visit my
friends when i feel like because people still feel uncomfortable
when they learn about my parents'', says 13-year-old kemi
akinrinade. (more/ips)


nigeria: leprosy (2)

akinrade, who believes she is no different from other
people because her parents were lepers, says her only hope
is to ''some day to get out of the colony and be accepted''.

while they resist being reintergrated into society, inmates
at iberekodo and other leper colonies in the country complain
that government allocation for their upkeep does not cover
their needs.

in the western state of ogun where iberekodo is situated, the
colony's inmates receive a monthly stipend of about five
dollars.

adagbona says ''the state allowance is not enough to take
care of our needs so we resorted to communal farming''.

however, adagbona, whose family deserted him when he was
infected with leprosy adds, ''were it not not for government
establishing the colony, i would have died long ago''.

ogun state, is one the 10 leprosy-endemic areas receiving
international assistance from countries such as germany, the
netherlands and britain.

thomas  steinberg, information secretary in the german
embassy here told ips that the german leprosy relief association
will contribute about five million deutsch mark to assist in the
control of leprosy and tuberculosis.

the funds, says steinberg, will provide medicaments and
laboratory reagents and improve existing medical equipment,
infrastructure and transport. (end/ips/eo/tvh/92)
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