The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-14761, in the name of Bruce Crawford, on world leprosy day. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament recognises what it sees as the fantastic work that is being carried out by the Stirling-based organisation, The Leprosy Mission (TLM) Scotland, in helping people across the globe who have leprosy; understands that it is estimated that between 600 and 700 people, particularly those living in extreme poverty, are diagnosed with the disease every day; considers that TLM Scotland is having a significant impact across the world and acknowledges its work in helping people to achieve freedom from stigma and poverty, and hopes that World Leprosy Day, which will be marked on 31 January 2016, will assist in bringing awareness and increased recognition to its cause.
12:33
First, as usual, I sincerely thank all members who signed the motion. I particularly thank those who have stayed behind to listen to and take part in the debate.
World leprosy day is a major date in the calendar for those who are fighting the scourge on humanity that is leprosy. Every year, on the last Sunday in January—in some countries it lasts a whole week—the whole world has a chance to stop and consider the plight of people around the globe who are affected by leprosy. It is also an opportunity to take stock and to celebrate the many stories of hope, transformation and restoration that have been achieved by the Leprosy Mission Scotland. Many other organisations—particularly the churches—are involved alongside the Leprosy Mission Scotland in dedicating themselves to the same ultimate goal of eradicating leprosy from the planet and thus transforming people’s lives.
However, world leprosy day is also an important opportunity to grapple with the scale of the problem that, depressingly, still exists around the world and the impact that it has on individuals and communities. This year, world leprosy day will be on Sunday 31 January.
I have had the pleasure of visiting the Leprosy Mission Scotland office in my constituency on many occasions during my time as an MSP, and the staff and volunteers there do a remarkable job. Some of them are in the public gallery today and I welcome them to the Scottish Parliament. Most recently, I had the pleasure of visiting its office at Livilands at the beginning of November, when the Minister for Europe and International Development paid an official visit. Not only was that visit a fun and enjoyable occasion, we were provided with a detailed briefing on Leprosy Mission Scotland’s most recent projects, including the fantastic work that it is doing in Dhaka.
In 2013, the Leprosy Mission Scotland received just under £300,000 of Scottish Government funding to help with a rehabilitation project in Dhaka in Bangladesh. The aim of the project is to provide an improved quality of life for people with leprosy and people with physical disabilities, all with, rightly, a particular focus on women. The organisation plans to set up self-help groups for people with disabilities so that they can be given training in income-generating activities, and it intends to help to develop the capacity of individuals and communities to get better access to rights and entitlements to health services and to improve access to education for their children.
The Leprosy Mission Scotland has been helping people around the world since 1874, providing education and support to those who are affected by the disease. The mission has had about 200 projects in 30 countries, mainly in Africa, Asia and around the Pacific, bringing healing and much-needed justice to people who are affected by leprosy, and it has now agreed that, for the next few years, most if not all of the support that is raised in Scotland will go to help people who are affected by leprosy in seven countries—Angola, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria and South Sudan.
It was great to go along and see the fabulous work that the chief executive, Linda Todd, and her remarkable team of staff and volunteers do on a daily basis at the Leprosy Mission Scotland.
As members might imagine, leprosy is a disease that commonly comes from places of poverty. Dirty surroundings, overcrowding and poor nutrition, housing and sanitation all make people more susceptible to leprosy infection. Thankfully, more than 95 per cent of people are naturally resistant to the disease, but let us remind ourselves of the sheer scale of the challenge that the Leprosy Mission Scotland is grappling with across the world. Every day, 600 to 700 people are diagnosed with leprosy—that is an incredible one person every two minutes—and the disease is still prevalent in 16 countries, with more than half of those who are affected being in India.
However, it is not all bad news. In the past 20 years, more than 14 million people have been cured of leprosy and the disease has been eliminated from more than 100 countries. Leprosy can be cured, and early diagnosis and treatment with multidrug therapy for six to 12 months can prevent physical and psychological problems from escalating. However, as well as medicines and surgery, those with complex cases may require therapy, rehabilitation, vocational training, housing options and much more.
For thousands of years, leprosy has been a source of fear and outrage. In many countries, it is still seen as a taboo topic. Sadly, there are still simply too many stories about people who have been disowned by their partners or family and cast out of their communities because of the fear and lack of knowledge about the disease. The fear, persecution and prejudice in many communities mean that people who are affected by leprosy do not just have to cope with the effects of the disease but often have to face stigma, persecution and injustice, making life doubly difficult.
Justice can come in many forms; it varies widely from place to place and from country to country. Removing the stigma that is attached to the disease not only helps to encourage those who are affected to seek treatment but helps their families and the wider community to understand much more about the illness. The Leprosy Mission Scotland’s efforts in the education field are vital. It is working exceptionally hard to tackle the misunderstanding and the stigma that is associated with leprosy. The mission very clearly continues to demonstrate compassion, dedication and enthusiasm towards its ultimate goal of defeating leprosy worldwide.
My attention was brought to the issue of leprosy in primary 6, when a great old teacher of mine told us the story of Mary Slessor from Aberdeen. Mary Slessor, who eventually became known as the white queen of Calabar, did so much work on leprosy. I remember the impact that her work had on me, so I am very pleased to take part in today’s debate.
I know that everyone in the Parliament will hope with all their being that the Leprosy Mission Scotland is as successful as it is humanly possible to be in eradicating this disease. It is entirely possible to end this scourge on humanity—it just needs common effort and will to make that happen.
12:41
I thank my colleague Bruce Crawford for securing this important debating time today. With your indulgence, Presiding Officer, I wish to apologise to the chamber: as I will chair the cross-party group on epilepsy at 1 pm, I must unfortunately leave the debate before its conclusion.
Leprosy is a bacterium that is transmitted through constant exposure to those who are living with the disease. If we came into contact with it, most of us would not be affected and our immune systems would fight it off. However, there are those—people weakened by malnourishment, for example—who cannot fight and overcome this unbearable disease.
Unfortunately, much of the world does not even know that leprosy still exists, as many associate it with diseases of the ancient past. However, it is prevalent and common in more than 100 countries worldwide, with the greatest prevalence in developing countries. More than 200,000 cases were diagnosed in 2014 alone. It is surely time to increase awareness and work towards eradicating this horrible disease once and for all.
For more than 30 years, treatment has existed to cure the disease. Although that has dramatically decreased the number of sufferers, those with leprosy are often ostracised and must live in communities that marginalise, stigmatise and impoverish them, as Bruce Crawford touched on. Most are unable to continue with employment, obtain an education, or have any prospect of marriage, which in some societies is banned for them by law.
Even in 20th century Europe, leprosy sufferers could be banished to leper colonies. The Spinalonga colony on the island of Crete, which operated from 1903 to 1962, is probably the most famous. Others from Latvia to Spain survived even longer.
Because of how they are treated, those who contract leprosy often ignore the symptoms, making the disease worse while running the risk of infecting others. The first signs and symptoms of leprosy start with the appearance of black or discoloured spots on one’s skin. Additionally, the small nerves on the skin’s surface become damaged, creating a loss in pain sensation. When those nerves have been damaged, a simple stone in one’s shoe or speck in one’s eye can cause significant harm, as those with leprosy have lost the body’s trigger response to feel pain. Sadly, without proper treatment, the nerves will continue to get worse, and can cause paralysis to muscle tissue, leading to “clawing” of the feet and hands. Cuts and burns often left unnoticed can lead to significant infections and ultimately cause disability for those suffering from leprosy. Although treatment can cure the disease and prevent the further degeneration of nerve and tissue damage, unfortunately it is unable reverse the damage inflicted.
The Leprosy Mission Scotland has travelled to schools, youth groups, congregations and service clubs across the country raising awareness and support for the eradication of this debilitating disease, working tirelessly to
“educate the people of Scotland about what leprosy is, and perhaps more importantly what it isn’t—given age-old myths associated with it; how it affects the lives of those infected, as well as those around them.”
Other projects include the Schoonhaven lepers’ village in Ghana, which was established in 1926. It is a settlement for cured lepers who, when discharged, are often disowned by their families because of the nature of the disease and the traditional dread of it. The settlement has since provided a safe haven for 120 people who survive by subsistence farming, Government stipends and donations from well-meaning individuals and organisations.
In Mozambique, the Mepapa community was set up to treat those suffering from leprosy; today, it is home to 50 families with 834 members, 73 of whom have leprosy. Although the community has little support and no access to a local health clinic or school, the Evangelical Church of Christ in Mozambique, supported by the Church of Scotland, now provides a variety of resources and services to support the community, including agricultural equipment, seeds, medication, personnel and educational resources.
We recognise world leprosy day on Sunday 31 January. Since 1991, more than 14 million leprosy patients have been cured. However, although numbers are continuing to fall, there are those who remain untreated, and most are not aware of leprosy’s harmful effects other than how it impacts on their appearance. My hope is that we can continue to educate people, as the Leprosy Mission Scotland has done for so long now, and I support its vision, which is
“to transform the lives of people affected by leprosy, resourcing care and cure, taking them from rejection to acceptance and from poverty to economic independence.”
12:45
I am pleased to speak in the debate, and I congratulate Bruce Crawford on securing it. I also welcome representatives from the Leprosy Mission Scotland to the public gallery this lunch time.
As Bruce Crawford has said, this Sunday, 31 January, is world leprosy day. It is an important means of focusing people’s minds and highlighting the condition’s impact on too many people around the world. People with the condition live in the poorest countries in the world, and it too often leads to their living a life of isolation, extreme poverty and stigma.
The fact that people still suffer from this disease is a tragedy. As other members have pointed out, it is completely curable. Nevertheless, in 2014, 214,000 people were diagnosed with leprosy, and it is estimated that millions are still going undiagnosed. Although the condition has an incubation period of around five years, it can take up to 20 years to manifest itself. It can be cured with modern medicine, but if it is not tackled early enough, it can lead to life-changing disabilities.
Attitudes towards leprosy are historical and complex, and the stigma is long established and deeply rooted in many cultures. In India, 17 laws currently discriminate against people with or who have had leprosy, but such fear and discrimination come from a lack of education about the disease, and more needs to be done in that respect. Bruce Crawford has mentioned the countries that are supported by the Leprosy Mission Scotland; India, Bangladesh and Mozambique are supported by the charity Lepra, and as Mr Crawford has made clear, such dedicated charities play an important role in the work that they carry out with other partners.
Small amounts of money can make a huge difference to countries’ health and education structures with regard to improving lives and raising awareness. With £15, for example, a community volunteer can be trained to recognise the signs of leprosy. That is important; indeed, we should not underestimate the importance of local people, community activists and peer discussions in this matter. As we have seen, very stubborn issues to do with long-standing views and stigma are often tackled most effectively with the involvement of local people. It is not just a matter of changing the basic policy; hearts and minds need to be won over, too.
Lepra also hosts the academic journal Leprosy Review, which looks at, for example, research into the medical, physical and social aspects of leprosy and information relevant to leprosy control. It is important that we support academic research as well as take direct action.
This Sunday, we have the opportunity to raise awareness of the condition, and I see that a social media campaign is planned along with petition signing and fundraising activity. As Bruce Crawford has pointed out, the Leprosy Mission Scotland is based in Stirling, which is in my region, and I note that many churches in Fife have a close relationship with the organisation, including St Leonards in St Andrews, whose minister has taken part in Leprosy Mission Scotland mercy missions to Nepal. It is an important part of the contribution that we can make that volunteers travel to support local projects and offer their skills and experience.
However, we also need international commitment and co-operation to challenge attitudes and practices. India’s laws are a case in point, and show that this is a human rights issue. As well as aid and support, there is a need for diplomacy and a political argument about tackling discrimination and stigma needs to be won.
I wish the Leprosy Mission Scotland well with its plans for Sunday. I know that there will be speakers at a number of church services across Scotland, and I thank all the volunteers in Scotland who spend their time fundraising, raising awareness of the condition and travelling overseas to support the many activities that are taking place.
12:49
Like other members, I congratulate Bruce Crawford on securing this important debate. Leprosy, or Hansen’s disease, as it is also known, is an ancient disease, having been recorded in records for at least 2,500 years. It is a disease that has been greatly feared by many. Indeed, the word “leper” does not just mean a person suffering from leprosy; it has the additional meaning of social outcast, because that is what a sufferer from leprosy was: a person who was considered unclean, with all the implications of being morally deficient as well as physically afflicted.
Few diseases have carried such a heavy social burden as leprosy. That is curious, as leprosy is not an inherited condition, nor—even though it is a bacterial infection—is it highly infectious. As other members have said, around 95 per cent of the world’s population have natural immunity to the leprosy bacterium.
The reason why leprosy was so feared was that it was so disfiguring and disabling, but today leprosy is a perfectly curable disease. A drug to successfully treat leprosy became available in the 1940s, although it was not until the 1970s, with the availability of multidrug therapy that it became possible to consider eradicating leprosy.
Leprosy persists still. There are certainly not the great numbers of people that it afflicted in years gone by, but still there are people suffering from leprosy today. In 1985, around 5.2 million people suffered from leprosy. By 2014, there were around 200,000 cases worldwide. That represents a fall in the prevalence of leprosy of more than 75 per cent. That is a fantastic achievement and one that not enough people are aware of.
Sadly, however, there are some places where there are pockets in which leprosy is endemic, including in Nepal, Brazil, Sudan and Indonesia. Like with tuberculosis, another ancient disease, there is still a stigma attached to leprosy, which means that people are sometimes reluctant to come forward for diagnosis and, perhaps more important, treatment. That is a great pity, because only early diagnosis and treatment allow the patient to be cured before they have suffered permanent nerve damage, which is what causes the disfigurement and disabilities that are associated with the disease.
The Leprosy Mission Scotland is a Christian charity based in Stirling, which has been operating since 1874, just one year after the Norwegian doctor G H A Hansen discovered the bacterium that causes leprosy.
The Leprosy Mission Scotland is not only concerned with looking after those with leprosy and curing them; it also works for justice for those who suffer from the stigma that is associated with the disease. People still fear leprosy, and a person who is diagnosed may find themselves evicted from their home and ostracised by their neighbours and they may lose their job. That is despite the fact that, once a person starts treatment for the disease, they are very quickly no longer contagious and are able to lead a perfectly normal life. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment mean that it is possible to have a full recovery, to suffer no long-term effects and to be completely cured. However, the social consequences of having contracted leprosy are not so easily overcome.
World leprosy day falls on the last Sunday in January each year—it is on 31 January this year. In 2016, the Leprosy Mission Scotland wishes to focus on rebuilding Nepal. The World Health Organization has stated that the prevalence of leprosy in Nepal is 2.6 cases per 10,000 population, with the number of reported cases in Nepal standing at 3,225 in 2013.
In April 2015 there was of course a devastating earthquake in Nepal. It was a particularly devastating blow for those Nepalese who suffer from leprosy, a disease that is prevalent among the poor and which also causes people to fall into poverty. In fact, the Leprosy Mission’s Anandaban hospital, not far from Kathmandu, was the only hospital in the area with the facilities to treat many of the earthquake victims.
On world leprosy day this year, let us applaud the work of the Leprosy Mission Scotland, which is bringing hope, justice and dignity to so many, and let us also remember the victims of the terrible earthquake in Nepal.
12:54
I, too, welcome the opportunity afforded by the debate, and I thank Bruce Crawford for that. I associate myself with all the comments that have been made so far during this short but informed debate. Indeed, I do not wish to repeat everything that has already been said.
I would like to speak a little bit more about the issue of stigma. I was born in April 1959. In November that year, William Wyler’s 11 Academy award-winning Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film starring Charlton Heston, “Ben-Hur”, was released. If there is a greater recruiting sergeant for stigma and prejudice about leprosy, it is difficult to think what it might be.
The film is impossible to escape even today because it is shown at least once a month somewhere, and yet without any context. It is difficult to think of anything in popular culture that has ever been released subsequently that counters its portrayal of leprosy in any way. I cannot think of any drama that has been associated with trying to show the context of leprosy in the modern era. For many people, leprosy is a biblical disease for which there is no cure, even though common sense dictates that the reality must be different.
That is very unfortunate because the prejudice that many people face, whether that is individuals being evicted from their homes, families breaking down, children being denied education, people being unable to find work or people being denied medical treatment, is all fuelled by ignorance—as is the case for other illnesses that we have previously discussed in the chamber. In this case the ignorance is not borne out by the reality, which is that, even though people still contract it today, the disease can be successfully and inexpensively treated, restoring to people their dignity and opportunity in life.
That is why I am delighted to be able to congratulate the Leprosy Mission Scotland on the 140 years of contribution made, which is so fitting with the narrative of Scottish involvement in the wider world. The Leprosy Mission’s campaign this year to celebrate the 140 years is to encourage the participation of young people through a gap year across 140 churches, to further extend the work of trying to eliminate and counter the effects of the disease and the prejudice associated with it. I am also delighted to be able to congratulate the Government on the support that it has given, which has been referred to in the debate and which plays a part in the charity’s work.
It is great that some of the individuals involved are here in the public gallery, which is not always the case when we comment on or celebrate a particular organisation. On behalf of the Parliament, I say that we are very grateful for the work that they do, which enhances the reputation of Scotland and tackles in a modern context a disease that can be beaten and yet still exists.
I hope that we reflect on the on-going subconscious stigma that can sometimes be translated into the minds of young people. I remember vividly that, at the time, “Ben-Hur” represented leprosy as almost more terrifying than the Daleks—I was at that age when I first saw the film. Leprosy was represented as something that had to be shut away, feared and shunned. I do not remember anything that corrected that view other than my own interest in seeking to identify what the reality might be and reading about it on a proactive basis. I did not find myself exposed to better information on a reactive basis.
That is something that we should reflect on as we try to counter the stigma that is still attached to a disease that can so easily be cured with effort and money.
Thank you, Mr Carlaw. For future reference, I point out that, if you turn your back on the microphone, it makes it difficult for members and the official reporters to hear.
12:58
Thank you, Presiding Officer—at least that gave those of us in the back benches the benefit of seeing Jackson Carlaw’s face.
I thank Bruce Crawford for securing a debate on this important topic.
First, I will comment on the specifics of the Leprosy Mission. I have known of the mission for a long time and think very highly of it, as do others in the chamber. As other members have said, for many of us leprosy was something that we heard about as a child, and since then there has been an assumption that it was one of those diseases that we have dealt with and which has gone away. Sadly, that is not the case.
I was looking at Wikipedia and found similar figures to those that have already been quoted: in 2012 there were 230,000 new cases, with half of them being in India. The good news in terms of figures is that 16 million people have been cured of leprosy in the last 20 years. Of course, being cured does not necessarily take away the stigma.
All of that came home to me in the 1980s when I lived in Nepal. Leprosy was still fairly common there, and I frequently saw people with real deformities caused by the disease, even if it was no longer active in their bodies. Nepal is a society that values physical contact, and that raised questions such as whether people should hug someone who had clearly had leprosy.
There is still a huge amount of stigma around leprosy today, just as there was in Jesus’s day, when people with leprosy had to ring the bell as they approached and shout, “Unclean!” I know that the Leprosy Mission Scotland is keen that we do not use the word “leper” because it has so many negative connotations, as Stewart Maxwell pointed out.
Charities such as the Leprosy Mission Scotland deserve our support in financial and other ways, which leads me to the other point that I want to make regarding the wider issue of charity fundraising and in particular the changes flowing from the Etherington report. The report stems from the fact that some charities have clearly been overzealous—to say the least—in their fundraising activities. As a result, the intention is to have a fundraising preference service whereby someone could reset their preferences and opt out of having any charity whatsoever contact them.
That could prevent an existing charity from contacting one of its own regular supporters, if that person had misunderstood the new system. They might have thought that they were asking only that no new charity contact them whereas in fact they were asking that no charity contact them. I am a little unclear on the whole issue and on whether the Etherington report will fully apply in Scotland. I have written to Alex Neil about the matter, which I know he is aware of as he attended the event in Parliament a little while ago that was run by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and the Institute of Fundraising Scotland and which raised the issue specifically. I want to mention that specific issue today, as the Leprosy Mission Scotland has raised it with me.
There is a feeling that leprosy is one of a number of neglected tropical diseases, and that Governments in the international community have not prioritised it sufficiently. I very much hope that today’s debate will help to redress the balance.
13:01
I thank Bruce Crawford for bringing the debate to the chamber. He mentioned in his speech that he and I visited the Leprosy Mission Scotland at the end of last year, and I am delighted that its volunteers and staff, and the director Linda Todd, are in the public gallery today.
I was blown away by the work that the charity does. As important as the motion is in recognising that world leprosy day is taking place this Sunday, the Leprosy Mission Scotland’s work is more important, and I ask all members of the Scottish Parliament, if they are passing through Stirling or even if they are not, to pop into its offices and see for themselves the amount of work that it does. It is an incredible organisation, especially given that the team is so small.
One thing that struck me was the dedication of the volunteers. The staff do a fantastic job and work above and beyond the call of duty, but I was also struck by how many people from the local community give up their free time to help to spread awareness of leprosy and have been doing so for many years.
I was impressed with the Leprosy Mission’s grass-roots community credentials, and I am delighted that its representatives are here today and that I am able to extol the virtues of the good work that they do. I am not just saying that because they gave me a wonderful cup of tea and a few pastries on my previous visit.
We have heard some excellent contributions from members on all sides of the chamber. We have members’ business debates precisely to raise awareness of issues that would not necessarily get time in the chamber otherwise, and awareness of leprosy is one of those issues.
I will re-emphasise some of what has been said, without—I hope—repeating too much of it. Leprosy is one of those diseases that many people, when we speak to them about it, are astounded to hear still exists. Bruce Crawford and I were discussing that during our visit, and that view is shared by the Leprosy Mission Scotland, which still has people coming to it and saying that they did not even realise that the organisation was needed because they thought that the disease been eradicated many moons ago. Leprosy has not been eradicated, of course, and it is to our shame as an international community that a disease that was prevalent in the time of Christ, and even before that, is still causing suffering among many people around the world.
Almost all members in the chamber made the point—Jackson Carlaw did so very powerfully—that stigma still exists for those who suffer from leprosy. It is important that we tackle that stigma in countries in which leprosy is prevalent, because it will present a barrier for people who could be cured or treated. If they are portrayed as outcasts and treated as people who are undeserving, that can be an absolute barrier for them. In the worst of cases, some of the stigma comes from the fact that some cultures’ beliefs suggest that leprosy is a result of a person’s bad actions in the past or even in a past life. That is certainly a social stigma that we are encouraged to try to defeat.
The Scottish Government has invested over £480,000 supporting the Leprosy Mission Scotland’s work in Bangladesh. That money has helped to improve the quality of life of people living with leprosy and has improved their socioeconomic status by providing loans and training for income-generating activities. That latter point is quite important, because providing loans and training for income-generating activities helps to defeat the social stigma that exists for somebody who suffers from leprosy. From their being treated as an outcast by their society and culture, it can help to defeat the social stigma if they are suddenly able to access a loan and capital to become a businessman or businesswoman in their local area, provide a service and maybe have a team working under them.
Through the Leprosy Mission’s rehabilitation programme in Dhaka, we have supported people left disabled by leprosy, giving people—especially women—the skills and knowledge that they need to access the Government health services that they are entitled to, as well as improving access to education for their children.
Scotland has a very good record of contributing to global health. I will go into that in a second, but I had better touch on John Mason’s question about the Etherington report. He will of course receive a full response from Alex Neil in good time to the letter that he wrote to him, but I can tell him now that the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and the charity regular regulator in Scotland—OSCR—are in a process of consultation with the sector about how the Etherington report should apply to Scotland. I think that that is probably the best approach to take: speak to the sector, bring its members round the table and hear their views.
In essence, the SCVO and OSCR want to achieve two objectives from the consultation. The first objective is that there should be a positive environment in the sector that can help charities and non-governmental organisations to flourish, which is very important. The second objective, which is equally important—I think that John Mason will understand this—is that there should be public trust and confidence in the sector. If we can achieve those two objectives, that will mean that we do not have to apply fully all the Etherington report recommendations. It is important that the NGOs and others are consulted to see what can be done in order to achieve those two objectives.
The United Nations sustainable development goals were produced last year, and it is important that infectious diseases are tackled as part of achieving those goals. We all have a responsibility to do that both at home—the sustainable development goals can be implemented at home as well—and overseas. Scotland was one of the first nations to sign up to the UN’s sustainable development global goals in July 2015. Those goals came into effect on 1 January this year, and they will be implemented through our national performance framework. We will do everything that we possibly can to ensure that we assist in that effort not only at home but, importantly, overseas and abroad.
I am proud that Scotland is a good global citizen and playing its part in the fight against leprosy and other global health challenges. I commend the efforts of not only the Leprosy Mission Scotland—I take my hat off to those involved—but leprosy missions worldwide. The disease of leprosy cannot be eradicated without a collective effort internationally, involving not only one organisation or organisations in Scotland but organisations across the world. However, it is because of the backbone of the volunteers who give up their free time to work to defeat the disease that I think that we will ultimately be successful in seeing the complete eradication of leprosy from everywhere in the world.
I am happy to support the motion from my colleague Bruce Crawford.
13:09 Meeting suspended.