Vatican City, Jan 29, 2010 / 10:48 am
The message for the World Day for Leprosy was released today from president of the Pontifical Council for Healthcare Ministry, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski. The archbishop explained in the message that "it's not only a day of reflection on this devastating disease but, most of all, it's a day of solidarity with the brothers and sisters than are affected by it."
Quoting a statistic from the World Health Organization of 210,000 new cases of the disease in 2009, Archbishop Zimowski, said that to this number we can add the "innumerable" additional people "that have been infected but not counted and still lack access to a cure."
In the message, released for the observance of the "World Day" on Jan. 31, the archbishop explains that the disease remains "invisible to the eyes of others, of society (and) of public opinion," despite its significant presence in Asia, South America and Africa.
"In the most economically-advanced countries it seems like this disease has been forgotten, as have also the people affected by it," he noted.