Study on global leprosy policy I

International Leprosy Association Global Project on the History of Leprosy.

Reflections on Global Forum on Leprosy Control.

At the time of publishing the Global Strategy to Further Reduce the Leprosy Burden, it was envisaged that more detailed operational guidelines would be published to ‘enable countries to develop their own country-specific strategies and plans of action’. The plan was turned into reality (albeit later than anticipated) through a Global Forum on Leprosy Control that met in the University of Aberde...

PGL-I leprosy serology.

Mycobacterium leprae is the causative agent of leprosy, a disease that, despite having an effective cure with multidrug therapy (MDT), leaves millions of cured patients with sequelae as a consequence of the nerve damage that forms the hallmark of leprosy. A number of diagnostic issues hamper the correct and timely diagnosis of leprosy and the correct classification of patients for treatment pur...

Democracy – The Real ‘Ghost’ in the Machine of Global Health Policy; Comment on “A Ghost in the Machine? Politics in Global Health Policy”

Politics is not the ghost in the machine of global health policy. Conceptually, it makes little sense to argue otherwise, while history is replete with examples of individuals and movements engaging politically in global health policy. Were one looking for ghosts, a more likely candidate would be democracy, which is currently under attack by a new global health technocracy. Civil society moveme...

A Spanner in the Works? Anti-Politics in Global Health Policy; Comment on “A Ghost in the Machine? Politics in Global Health Policy”

The formulation of global health policy is political; and all institutions operating in the global health landscape are political. This is because policies and institutions inevitably represent certain values, reflect particular ideologies, and preferentially serve some interests over others. This may be expressed explicitly and consciously; or implicitly and unconsciously. But it’s important t...