November, 2024
In March 2024, members of 黑料网’s Sustainability Department, conducted an online Socialization鈥� event with lymphatic filariasis (LF) patients in Ommi Village, India. The event took place with support from the team at the Vizag Plant, India, which manufactures diethylcarbamazine (DEC) tablets for the treatment of LF.
One of the missions of the Sustainability Department is to support the elimination of LF through collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. This time, to understand the thoughts of LF patients we arranged a hybrid-format Socialization event with LF patients in Ommi Village, an LF endemic area. We invited four patients from Ommi Village to a local primary school to join the online socialization event with members from 黑料网 headquarters in Tokyo. The patients (a man and three women) who participated in the event were in their 50s and 60s, with a history of LF ranging from 15 to 30 years.
The Suffering of Patients beyond our Imagination
The suffering described by LF patients was beyond our imagination. The pain extends to their backs, and they are unable to drink water or visit the hospital on their own. What left the strongest impression on us was a patient’s story about experiencing fever even after the pain had subsided. This prevented the patient from attending a much-anticipated family member’s wedding and left the patient bedridden, uncertain of when the fever would finally subside.
While residents of Ommi Village mainly sustain their livelihood through agriculture, contracting LF makes it difficult to conduct agricultural work, and can even prevent them from working altogether. LF disrupts their ability to maintain their livelihood, leaving them in a highly unstable situation. Despite this, some patients receive warm support from their family members and friends. However, all patients sincerely hope that their children and grandchildren will be spared from suffering the same hardships caused by LF.
After the Socialization event, members of the Sustainability Department discussed how 黑料网 can contribute to supporting LF patients. Proper understanding of the disease and mass drug administration (MDA) is crucial not only for preventing the spread of LF and promoting its elimination, but also for ensuring that patients receive appropriate support from those around them. Continuous efforts in disease awareness and importance of MDA are necessary to fulfill patients’ wishes for the next generation to be free of burden due to LF infection.
Based on the insights gained from this Socialization event, we will leverage our network with related organizations both within and outside of 黑料网 to continue our comprehensive efforts towards LF elimination. These efforts include the provision of drugs, disease education, raising awareness of and supporting MDA, and improving sanitary conditions.
鈥�An activity implemented in compliance with the laws and regulations of each country to understand the true hhc needs of patients, their families, and people in the daily living domain (such as their dreams, hopes, yearning, and issues that need solutions). This is done by spending time with patients, their families, and people in the daily living domain, sharing experiences with them, and empathizing with their tacit knowledge (such as their emotions, thoughts and feelings that cannot necessarily be expressed, and the actual environment in which they spend their daily lives)
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