Leprosy still plaques people in the Middle East. In Abu Zaabal, Eqypt, home of the largest leper colony in the Middle East, you'll find a hospital, pre-school, a prison, and the adjoining village of Abdel Moneim Riad which is home to 3,000 people.
Started in the 1930s, the Abu Zaabal centre north of Cairo, hosts many who have recovered from the disease but decide to remain in order to live with family members who have leprosy, rather than return to their home towns where they were shunned by others because of their disease.
The disease is spread by a bacteria called mycobacterium leprae, which 'eats away' flesh and can destroy limbs.
As reported in Yahoo News:
Since 1985, 113 countries out of 122 countries where leprosy was classified as a problem have rid themselves of the disease.
Although there are nearly three million cases in the world, only 400,000 new cases were registered in 2004, according to the World Health Organisation.
In Egypt, leprosy has fallen from 60,000 cases in 1979 to 3,000 in 2005.
Thank God!
4Comment
No comments:
Post a Comment