Ruth peacock, “the mother of leprosy patients”

It was just a Problem with the visa, but it changed the life of Ruth peacock complete, as well as the lives of thousands of sick people in the slums of Pakistan. Because the German Doctor could not enter the country in the year 1960 as originally planned, according to India, she visited a hospital in Pakistan’s Karachi and saw there for the first Time in a leprosy patient.

The event marked the young German in such a way that they remained in Pakistan and its further career of combating the disease was dedicated.

On Monday, Ruth peacock would have been 90 years old. Google is honoring this occasion with a Doodle. “Thousands of lives” have you been saved by your dedication and your commitment, stated in the Declaration of the company.

Peacock came in 1929 in Leipzig, and later studied in Cologne and Bonn. In Karachi, she established the Marie Adelaide leprosy centre into a nationally recognised Institution, and managed the house until 2013. Four years later, the Doctor and the woman religious died in the Pakistani metropolis – she was 87 years old.

More than 50,000 lepers had been healed thanks to your work, – said on the website of the German leprosy and tuberculosis relief (DAHW). Peacock, which was also called “mother of leprosy patients”, has received numerous awards for her work, including the Federal cross of merit, the Albert Schweizer prize and the media prize Bambi as a “silent heroine”.

A life-long fight against exclusion

In 1988, she was appointed in Pakistan to honor a citizen and national consultant for leprosy-questions in the rank of a Secretary of state. Up to her death, she campaigned for human rights, international understanding and respect for all religions.

Of leprosy each year developing in the world between 220,000 and 250,000 people, primarily in tropical and subtropical countries. Leprosy is caused by Mycobacterium leprae. After an incubation time of nine months up to a maximum of 20 years, various clinical symptoms may occur.

They include skin manifestations and nerve damage, which can lead to sensory disturbances and paralysis. Many of those Affected are marginalised because of these visible signs of the disease social.