WORLD MISSION TO LEPERS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27404, 17 July 1954, Page 9

WORLD MISSION TO LEPERS

NEW ZEALAND ASKED TO GIVE £50,000 Last year in New Zealand, £47,000 was contributed to the world-wide Mission to Lepers. This year the goal has been increased to £50,000. The annual appeal is being made in Canterbury during this month. The leprosy situation is becoming increasingly hopeful, according to a statement issued by the mission’s secretaries in New Zealand (the Rev. Murray H. Feist, of Auckland, and the Rev. James K. Reid, of Dunedin). Now treatment with the sulphone drugs is bringing not only improvement to the great majority of cases, but also complete freedom from the disease to thousands. Last year, more than 3500 persons were cured in the homes associated with this mission in the 24 countries where it works. Other new drugs have recently been found which are effective in cases which will not tolerate the sulphones.

As a result of the recent international conference on leprosy in Lucknow, fresh attempts are being made to take the treatments out from the leprosy homes into the villages to prevent the spread of the disease. At village and roadside clinics the lepers are receiving the sulphone treatment, and relatives and others who come into contact with them are taught the principles of hygiene and sanitation and urged to avoid contact with the infected. The successes of the last few years are now bringing an increasing number of people with leprosy to seek treatment at the homes. These are now embarrassed by the growing demands made upon their accommodation and their funds, the statement says. ;