Asides

As a part of the Universitas Airlangga World Class University (WCU) program, visiting professor and senior leprosy researcher Dr. Shinzo Izumi presented a Guest Lecture in front of more than 80 participants. This lecture was hosted by ITD on Wednesday, 25 October 2017 and was targetted at postgraduate students (medical, public health, and social sciences), social workers, medical practicioners and leprosy control officers from Dinas Kesehatan Provinsi dan Kota/Kabupaten.

Although Dr. Izumi has a lot of experience in leprosy research along with his extended knowledge on the immunology and latest development on leprosy transmission, he chose to cover the human right aspect to raise awareness on the other needs of leprosy patients that are often unmet. Talking retrospectively from the pre-scientific era, how the Norwegians first encountered the disease outbreak and how it was handled until the major change comes as the science progress. Dr. Izumi also shared how the disesase first entered Japan and what impacts it had brought socially and culturally to his home country.

Dr.Izumi’s lecture was put into context by Dr.Phil. Toetik Koesbardiati from the Social and Political Science Faculty (FISIP) of Universitas Airlangga on the second segment of the lecture. As an anthropologist, Dr. Koesbardiati had been taking interest in the historical and sociocultural aspect of leprosy in Indonesia. She had long researched the origin of the disease in Indonesia as well as the different socio-cultural impacts of living with leprosy patients in different ethnic groups in Indonesia.

Prof. Indropo Agusni, dr., Sp.KK(K), acting as the moderator of the lecture, concluded from the two speakers that a better understanding of leprosy disease, not only in medical context but also from the sociocultural point of view, needs to be continually updated and will result in a better acceptance of leprosy patients in the society.

On the 10th-13th of August 2017, the leprosy study group of Institute of Tropical Disease Universitas Airlangga attended the National Conference of Dermatologist and Venereologist in Semarang, Central Java, was attended by more than 2000 audiences – not only registered dermatologists and venereologists but also general practicioners, student dermatologists, and others working in the field of dermatology and venereology. The conference was officially opened by the Central Java Governor Mr. Ganjar Pranowo, and proceeded by a series of specialty lectures presented by the respective experts.
Prof. Indropo Agusni, dr., Sp.KK, one of the few leprosy experts in Indonesia who is also the head of the leprosy laboratory, shared his knowledge through the lecture on subclinical leprosy in Indonesia. Professor Agusni also emphasized on the importance in implementing health regulations to cover the subclinical leprosy patients as it can act as the preventative measure to prevent future leprosy cases. In his lecture, Professor Agusni also introduced Dr. Wim van Brakel, the representative of Netherland Leprosy Relief (NLR) Amsterdam and his ongoing Post Exposure Prophylaxis Project ++ (PEP++) held in the top three countries with the highest number of leprosy cases. NLR Amsterdam is currently in partnership with the Indonesian Ministry of Health to hold a joint research with the General Hospital of Dr. Soetomo, Surabaya and Leprosy Laboratory of ITD Universitas Airlangga.
The three members of the leprosy laboratory (Iswahyudi, Dinar, and Prita) participated on the Poster competition. The event concluded with the election for the new President Board of the Indonesian Dermatologists and Venereologists Association (PERDOSKI). One of our own senior researcher, Dr. M. Yulianto Listiawan, dr., SpKK., was elected to be the PERDOSKI National President Board of for the 2017-2020 period.