Our 2021 report describes our results based on four main objectives which are:
- Young people affected by leprosy participate in society;
- Knowledge about leprosy in the community increases;
- Guaranteed access to rehabilitation services for people affected by leprosy;
- Inclusion of persons with disabilities increases and their rights are guaranteed.
With support from the Sasakawa Health Foundation (SHF) empowerment projects have been implemented in Gowa, Takalar and Sinjai districts. The PerMaTa branch in Takalar was revitalized and a new branch was opened in Sinjai. Young members were given opportunity to join various activities for capacity building, including vocational training. With support from the International Cooperation Alliance (ICA), PerMaTa Gowa was assisted to open a cooperative with a waste bank as their main business. Young people affected by leprosy were trained in administration, finance and waste bank operations. The waste bank started operating April 2021. With the support of VOICE Indonesia, the project Pakarena started in June 2021 as the continuation of Sipakatau. Sipakatau youth now becomes facilitators to guide a new team of young people affected by leprosy. Together they will help elderly people in Gowa.
As part of the SHF project, hundreds of home visits to people affected by leprosy were conducted and information about leprosy provided to their families and neighbours. We organised 12 radio talk shows, two TV talk shows, two documentaries and an health promotions advertisment about leprosy on Radio Sinjai. 6 press conferences an various occasions were held. PerMaTa Sulsel/YDTI attended several international webinars and zoom talks to promote activities removing the stigma of leprosy, and in January 2021 we celebrated World Leprosy Day in 4 districts of South Sulawesi. ICA invited PerMaTa Sulsel/YDTI to attend the international cooperative conference in Seoul, South Korea in November, which was an opportunity to promote our activities on a global scale and sensitize international audiences about leprosy. Furthermore, YDTI helped PerMaTa Sulsel to open a website to provide information about leprosy and PerMaTa widely in Indonesia and globally. We were were resource persons at online training for Australian public health students twice.
PerMaTa Sulsel/YDTI made numerous visits to people affected by leprosy and tried to facilitate referrals where needed. Some people were successfully referred but more people were unable to get the services they needed because the referral system doesn’t allow this anymore. We had a meeting with the director of the former leprosy hospital Tajuddin Chalid Hospital to talk about this matter, and we discussed referral difficulties with Health/Leprosy Program staff in many districts of South Sulawesi. All parties confirmed our findings that health and rehabilitation services for people affected by leprosy are no longer adequate. In a large workshop with key stakeholders, including the Tajuddin Chalid Hospital and Health Insurance (BPJS), the topic was discussed emotionally and controversially. Given the lack of data on the health situation and rehabilitation needs, we are trying to find funding for data collection/research on this subject. We are also developing a pilot project in Jeneponto for integrated health and rehabilitation services for people affected by leprosy. Together with the Dutch organization PUM and leprosy surgeon Dr Wim Theuvenet we conducted 3 online trainings on surgery and how to handle reactions for surgeons and physiotherapists. The number of participants in each training reached 150 people.
Accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities, including people afected by leprosy, is still low in Indonesia. We participated as resource person at the AITCAP international conference on inclusive tourism and the APEC Workshop Series on Tourism Access and Inclusion. Inclusive tourism consultation activities for Vifa Holiday continued during the Covid pandemic through regular online network meetings in several international groups. Towards the end of the year PerMaTa Sulsel/YDTI started work on a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report on leprosy for the United Nations Human Rights Council, where Indonesia will submit its report in 2022.
See the full report in Indonesian language here: Laporan Kegiatan 2021 YDTI