Ref.: (LML) Stigma of seeking or accepting alms
From: Joel Almeida, London and Mumbai
Dear Pieter and colleagues,
In Japan, in April 2020, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveiled a package of stimulus measures worth at least $1 trillion (one thousand billions US dollars equivalent) to protect jobs, bolster the medical sector and ease the pain for working families. What did this mean for individuals in Japan? A cash payment of 100,000 yen to every resident. More handouts followed.
In the UK, the government announced measures to stimulate the economy. This included payment of 50% of the cost of a meal at any participating restaurant, up to a reasonably generous limit per visit per individual. This allowed several non-starving people to enjoy the choicest foods by the greatest chefs at heavily discounted out-of-pocket payments.
In the COVID era, accepting alms seems to have become acceptable, and even fashionable. There is apparently no stigma attached to it any more. That is because, perhaps for the first time in history, the affluent have paid out hard cash on the basis that it is better to have paying customers than to have starving poor people. Or even, better to have high-spending customers instead of slightly less well-heeled citizens.
The stigma to accepting alms seems to depend on the wealth of the recipient. If the recipient is affluent, or in an affluent country, it seems stigma-free to accept alms. People have been paid to stay at home and away from workplaces, in the hope that this would slow the spread of the virus.
Persons disfigured by HD, sometimes with absent hands or feet, are less fortunate. If someone paid them to stay put, they could escape starvation without having to go to the streets to beg. We know that at least some of such individuals have been left to die of starvation during the COVID-related lockdowns. It would be good to attach less stigma to alms-taking, now that COVID has made alms-taking acceptable and almost fashionable for the affluent.
We can be grateful to Prime Ministers and Presidents of affluent countries for educating the world on the true significance of alms. Reducing the stigma of alms-taking among persons disfigured by HD would seem humane. It would be humane too for them to receive the medical care they deserve even if they have previously been treated. Just as affluent economies effectively hurt themselves if they refuse to take care of the poorer people, so the cause of HD control is destroyed if we continue to neglect previously treated persons disfigured by HD. They have a disproportionate representation of persons with LLp HD, which tends to recur repeatedly if neglected.
Interestingly, if we seek first the care of persons disfigured by HD, and persons with LLp HD, all the other things will be added. Including an end to transmission of HD.
Of course we would like the world to have zero poverty and for every individual to be in prestigious employment. But we could make a start with zero poverty by ensuring that not a single further previously treated person afflicted by HD is allowed to die of starvation, or to suffer lack of competent medical care. Once we have remedied extreme poverty and lack of competent medical care among previously treated persons afflicted by HD, people might pay greater attention to our exhortations to end all world poverty. And we will have matched past successes in ending transmission of HD.
I wish everyone a good stimulus package, and I am sure that we will rise to the challenges and opportunities of these unusual times. At our best, we have a strong conscience.
Joel Almeida
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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