Leprosy Cases on the Rise in Indonesia!

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Leprosy Cases on the Rise in Indonesia

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(Digital Dementia News Services) The World Health Organization (WHO) says <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Indonesia is the only country in the world where cases of leprosy are on the rise.

Leprosy is regarded as being effectively eliminated in Indonesia because there is less than one case per 100,000 members of the population. However, Indonesia is also the only country where cases of leprosy rose by 19 per cent between 2004 and 2005, according to figures released yesterday by WHO.

Other countries like India show a 38 per cent decrease in new cases.

Indonesian health officials blame the rise on new cases being discovered in remote areas of the archipelago but appear gratified that virtually all of the new cases of leprosy being reported are of the Leprindo® variety, a strain found only in Indonesia and over which the Indonesian government has asserted intellectual property rights.

Indonesia, long a haven for software, CD and DVD piracy, recently heard about intellectual property rights laws and has now become a staunch advocate of intellectual property rights, especially when applied to diseases that are, regrettably, already in the public domain.

“OK, it’s yukky, but at least it’s Leprindo®,” says Harsono Kuntyono Baihuddin, a senior health ministry officer. “Leprindo®, is an Indonesian leprosy, and we hope that the unexpected increase in reported cases will not be seized as an excuse for foreign pharmaceutical companies to commence research on improved drugs for curing or treating this condition without the express permission of the Indonesian government.”

Unlike many Indonesians who can afford only one name, many Indonesian health ministry officials are more fortunate like Harsono Kuntyono Baihuddin who can afford three names plus two Mercedes, one BMW and a weekend home in the mountains.