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Intense advocacy by WHO Goodwill Ambassador

The Goodwill Ambassador with H.E. The Governor of Orissa Shri Rameshwar Thakor and State Leprosy Officer of Orissa Dr P K B Pattanaik.

Continuing his series of visits to India for enlisting political and administrative support for the cause of leprosy and people affected by the disease, Mr Yohei Sasakawa, WHO Goodwill Ambassador for the Elimination of Leprosy visited India from the thirteenth to the seventeenth of September 2006. On this tour he met the President of India. Besides meeting the WHO Representative to India, Dr S J Habayeb, he spoke to the senior officers of the Central Leprosy Division and WHO offices in the country. He visited the states of Chattisgarh and Orissa this time.

Mr Yohei Sasakawa in India

The WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Elimination of Leprosy, Mr Yohei Sasakawa visited India in September and October 2006. On the previous visit from thirteenth to the seventeenth of September the Ambassador met Dr S J Habayeb, WHO Representative to India and concerned officers of the Country and Regional Offices. Present also in the meeting were Dr G P S Dhillon, Deputy Director General of Leprosy, and the Assistants Director General, Dr D M Thorat and Dr A K Puri.

The next stop was Raipur, capital of Chattisgarh state. There he addressed a Workshop aptly entitled Nayi Disha, Commitment to Elimination and Beyond. He enjoyed his field trips where a Prevention of Impairments and Deformities camp and local media performances with leprosy messages were in progress. In the state he had meetings with the Chief Minister, Health Minister, Health Secretary and Director of Health Services. The dignitaries requested the Ambassador to continue giving his support and technical advice for tackling issues such as rehabilitation of cured patients and IEC.

The Goodwill Ambassador returned to Delhi to visit the President of India Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. His Excellency expressed that he wished to see an India free of leprosy and free of leprosy colonies, implying that both the National Leprosy Eradication Program (NLEP) and efforts for rehabilitation must go on with the same intensity. He also agreed to continue to support the program with the same intensity.

Mr Sasakawa flew to Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, and in his presence, at a meeting of the state leprosy program personnel attended by the Health Minister of the state, the once highly endemic state declared that it had achieved the WHO advocated  goal of Elimination of Leprosy as a Public Health Problem. The Goodwill Ambassador participated in the celebrations and also in another Workshop in the same lines as at Raipur. After meeting with all the dignitaries of the State Government and enlisting their promise for continued support to the program, Mr Sasakawa returned to Japan.

On the occasion of the Second National Conference on Integration and Empowerment of People Affected by Leprosy organized by the National Forum for people affected by leprosy on the fourth of October 2006, Mr Sasakawa returned to India to participate.

This forum, meant to be the voice of the hitherto silent sufferers of the disease met for the second time now. Inaugurated by the Vice President of India Shri Bhairon Singhji Sekhawat and attended by the WHO Representative to India Dr S J Habayeb besides many dignitaries and experts on the subject of social work and rehabilitation, it sought to strengthen the movement of the people affected by the disease for adequate care and freedom from discrimination.