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Leprosy Mailing List – November 16, 2015
Ref.: (LML) ILA Congress, Beijing, 2016
From: Terence Ryan, Oxford, UK
Dear Pieter,
I have visited China on many occasions and gained some experience of Leprosy. I think back to learning experiences from Ma Haide and Jean watson. I refer to Ben's letter November 15th.and his sentence "It is not just only a public health problem concerning deformed people".
I have seen only one new case of Leprosy on my visits but numerous deformities in leprosy villages. Provision of housing and food contributes to longevity but I see many ulcers and other consequences of leprosy in very old people. The patients sit around with their legs dependent and venous ulcers are very common. Ill-fitting prostheses, skin cancers and diabetic foot ulcers are other problems. I wish to draw attention to one developing solution.
My department in Oxford in the 1990s and early years of this Millennium had an International Wound Foundation to which the Chinese Military used to send their best students for a year or two. These students who are now Generals in charge of large Hospitals have developed Wound Healing Units with a new brand of well-trained tissue viability nurses. They include attention to two epidemics in China, diabetic foot ulcers and pressure ulcers in the elderly .They provide both in in patient care but also importantly teaching in Primary Care. They know my hope that they will offer help in these villages to those with ulcers due to leprosy and other causes and will move away from the cities to towns and villages especially in the West. I have written recently for their Journal as attached.
A world congress in China where there are very few new cases but numerous long lived grade 2 deformities should include a session on the future and relevance of diabetic and pressure ulcers.
Terence Ryan
LML - S Deepak, B Naafs, S Noto and P Schreuder
LML blog link: http://leprosymailinglist.blogspot.it/
Contact: Dr Pieter Schreuder << editorlml@gmail.com
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