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Skriven 2006-01-30 10:57:02 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service (Press Release)
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                The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                          Vatican Information Service.
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                               VIS-Press releases

PROBLEM OF LEPROSY MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN

VATICAN CITY, JAN 28, 2006 (VIS) - "Lord, if You will, you can make me clean,"
is this year's theme for the 53rd World Day of Leprosy, which is celebrated on
Sunday, January 29. For the occasion, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan,
president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, has prepared a
message addressed to presidents of national episcopal conferences and to
bishops in charge of pastoral health care ministry.

The Church on this Day, writes the Cardinal, "wishes to listen to the very many
people in the world who are still afflicted by Hansen's disease. ... [She]
wants to give voice to their cry for help so that all of us together feel
involved, with our various capacities and responsibilities, in the commitment
to offer practical answers for the care and treatment of those suffering from
leprosy."

Cardinal Lozano goes on to recall how scientific and pharmacological progress
now enable leprosy to be treated in its early stages, however there remain, he
writes, "broad swathes of sick people and vast regions of the world that do not
yet have these possibilities at the level of treatment."

Quoting statistics of the World Health Organization, the president of the
Pontifical Council enumerates the declared cases of leprosy in the world at the
beginning of 2005: 47,596 in Africa, 36,877 in America, 186,182 in South East
Asia, 5,398 in the Eastern Mediterranean, and 10,010 in the West Pacific. He
also identifies a certain regression in the disease: "from 763,263 people
suffering from leprosy in 2001, the figure fell to 407,791 in 2004." His
message continues: "The just and shared satisfaction at the results that have
been achieved in the fight against Hansen's disease should not mean less
commitment or that the permanent needs, the endemic causes of the disease, the
prejudices that still exist... should be forgotten. ... A decisive effort could
be made to finally, and in every part of the world, eliminate the disease of
leprosy."

The prelate then invites national and international bodies, non-governmental
organizations, and local Churches to coordinate their efforts "to respond in a
more effective way to contemporary needs at the level of prevention and the
treatment of people who are at risk or are already affected by leprosy." He
also calls for more effective channels "for the free distribution of
pharmaceuticals," and highlights "the need to create and train ... groups of
social and health care workers who are able to act in the local areas,
diagnosing in good time the presence of this disease and treating it."

At the end of his message, Cardinal Lozano expresses gratitude for the efforts
of Christian communities and missionaries "in the fight against the disease of
leprosy and in providing loving care to people afflicted by it." He concludes
by emphasizing how "the Church has always in so many countries of the world
worked with total devotion to the welcoming ... and the social reintegration of
those who have, or have had, leprosy. ... On January 29, in particular, we
invite our communities to remember, during the Eucharistic celebration of the
Total Body of Christ, the many people and families that still suffer because of
the disease."
CON-AVA/LEPROSY DAY/LOZANO VIS 060130 (540)

SUMMARY

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