Editor's note

Abstract

EDITORS NOTE Although there is much debate as to the prevalence of leprosy in the world today, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, there has been an undisputed decline in the disease from nearly four million registered patients in 1985 to 523,605 in 2002. While over six hundred thousand new cases have been detected in 2002, and while the statistics only record registered cases, it is not unduly optimistic to suggest that the tide has turned in the battle against this disease. Dr. Yo Yuasa, the then president of the International Leprosy Association (ILA) had for more than ten years cherished an idea of a leprosy history project in order to preserve the record of this extraordinary work. In 1998, he discussed his idea with the Sasakawa Memorial Foundation and then with Dr. Noordeen, who was at that time the WHO Director of the Leprosy Elimination Programme and is currently WHO Advisor to the Leprosy Elimination Programme. Dr. Noordeen had also been impressed with the extraordinary success attained in controlling the disease. In addition, he had always considered that leprosy could not simply be regarded as just another communicable disease, and a history project would do justice to its many dimensions. This gave rise to wondering who would tell what had taken place, and even more fundamentally, who would take responsibility for preserving the records so that it could be told? As a result, the Global Project on the History of Leprosy emerged as the initiative of The International Leprosy Association (funded by the Nippon Foundation, in collaboration with WHO) and the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine at the University of Oxford. This project is devoted to developing a database of leprosy archives. Its purpose is to facilitate research into the modern history of leprosy by searching for and recording the location of organisational, policy, scientific and medical archives as well as leprosaria, museum and library records. Also included are private collections of those who have worked in the field and collections of testimonies from people affected by the disease. In addition, the project is devoted to fostering a growing network of researchers. As such, it crosses over different fields of interest: firstly, it is of interest to field workers and the medical community; and additionally, it is of interest to academics from the humanities, specifically those focussed on the history of medicine. Intersections with the medical community occurred at the 16 th International Leprosy Congress in Salvador, Brazil in August, 2002. This was the first time that leprosy history was a feature of this quadrennial Congress. The ILA Global Project on the History of Leprosy organised two sessions at which papers were presented in either Portuguese or English (the two official languages of the Congress). Out of this came an opportunity for situating the current research on the history of leprosy within the history of medicine. This special edition of História, Ciências, Saúde Manguinhos published by Casa de O...

Controle da hanseníase no Estado de São Paulo: análise histórica

“…10,11,13,20 The overall scope of the fi ght against leprosy and the complexity of the issues it raises is impressive, showing intricate convergences of national history, and of medical, governmental, and international policies. 24 The history of the fi ght against leprosy in São Paulo was unique, b as is the whole sanitary movement it was part of, uncommon in global health history, both in the way it developed and the pace in which it was implemented. The campaign was similar, in some aspects, to the health policy developed by Bismarck in Germany.…”