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Mr Yohei Sasakawa,
WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Elimination of Leprosy, visited India from 18 to 24 September
2005. He was accompanied by WHO India staff and members of partner organizations
like the International Leprosy Union.
During the said period, he visited Kolkata, Patnaand Guwahatiand attended the Media
Partnership Workshops organized there. He also used this opportunity to
meet the Governors of West Bengal,
Bihar and Assam, the Chief Minister of Assam and the Health Ministers of West Bengal and Assam.
One to one press meetings were organized in these cities. The events were
accorded high priority by the media and extensive press coverage was given.
Mr. Yohei
Sasakawa, President of
the Nippon Foundation
Some of the entrepreneurs in Assam
accorded him a grand reception and promised to extend all assistance in his
pioneering mission to eliminate leprosy in India. Jadavpur University in Kolkata
awarded him a Doctorate Degree (Honoris Causa) for his yeoman’s
service to the cause of leprosy and substantial contribution to the cause of
human development.
Mr Sasakawa likened the
spectacular progress made in the medical control of the disease to reaching
the ninety ninth mile in a hundred mile journey but said that the social
aspect of the problem was still a neglected issue. Leprosy-affected people
continue to be discriminated even
after they are cured and are thus victims of social stigma. They are barred from social interactions even when
it has been conclusively proved that they are no danger to society. Many laws
of the land discriminate against them without any known rationale. They are
referred to as ‘Lepers’ as if a whole human being is summarized in the
disease he had the misfortune of suffering from.The
WHO Goodwill Ambassador has taken this up
as a human rights violation
and has approached UN Human Rights Commission. For the first time in history,
some leprosy affected people spoke in the meeting of this august body. He
said that the progress made in correcting the social impact of the disease
was only a mile traveled in a hundred mile journey. He felt that the
partnerships of the press, media and other opinion makers of society are
vital for fighting the disease on the social front and such interactions must
go on. Mr Sasakawa believes in leading the war
against leprosy from the front. This was his fourteenth visit to India
in three years and his fourth this year.
India
is well on its way to reaching the goal of Elimination of Leprosy as a public
health problem. The prevalence rate of the disease at the end of July 2005
was 1.21 per ten thousand population.
In the endemic states, a special campaign called the Focused Leprosy Elimination Plan (FLEP) which focuses on the blocks which are
problematic and are not showing sufficient progress is being marked out for
special attention. Training programs for the medical and paramedical staff,
increased supervision and case validation have been planned. A Block Level Awareness Campaign (BLAC-II)
which stresses on awareness creation amongst people for increasing the
voluntary reporting at the Leprosy Counseling Centers, is also presently
underway in most states of India.
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