RESUMO
From 1911 to 1969 those people diagnosed with leprosy in the South Pacific were gradually isolated and received medical treatment at the Central Lepers' Hospital, Makogai Island, Fiji. Until the discovery of sulfones in the 1940s leprosy was largely incurable and it was expected that those who went to the island would never return. This paper assumes that the stigma attendant on leprosy which provoked the isolation order is itself a form of disability. The paper draws on patients'stories to explore their individual and collective experience of isolation and suggests that for many, collective isolation on Makogai was an enabling experience. On Makogai, leprosy was the 'norm', the social disability of stigma was removed and people were able to be self-sufficient, to build community and social relationships and to live a fairly ordinary island life.
Assuntos
Atitude Frente a Saúde , Hospitais de Dermatologia Sanitária de Patologia Tropical/história , Hanseníase/história , Estigma Social , Fiji , História do Século XIX , História do Século XX , Humanos , Hanseníase/diagnóstico , Hanseníase/tratamento farmacológico , Ilhas do Pacífico , Qualidade de Vida/psicologia , Religião e Medicina , Isolamento Social/psicologia , Sulfonas/história , Sulfonas/uso terapêuticoAssuntos
Hansenostáticos/história , Filatelia , Plantas Medicinais , Fiji , História do Século XIX , História AntigaRESUMO
The purpose of this paper is to alert practitioners to the possibility of leprosy by giving practical points from local experience together with a modicum of background information. Local experience of 45 patients is described in the form of a recent survey done in 1979 in Auckland together with illustrative records.