(1) Visit to India

Published on November 25, 2022

I would like to share with you some of the photographs taken during my visit to India between November 3 and 10, 2022, as chairman of The Nippon Foundation and WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination.

During the eight-day trip, I visited New Delhi and Jharkhand State, and participated in the 2nd Global Forum of People’s Organizations on Hansen’s Disease followed by the 21st International Leprosy Congress, both held in Hyderabad in the south-central India.

The Global Forum was hosted by the Sasakawa Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) Initiative (SLI) as part of its “Don’t Forget Leprosy” campaign.

SLI is a strategic alliance between the WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, The Nippon Foundation and the Sasakawa Health Foundation for achieving a world without leprosy and stigma and discrimination associated with the disease.

It launched the "Don't Forget Leprosy" campaign in August 2021 to ensure that efforts against leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, are not sidelined amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The International Leprosy Congress, held every three years, is a gathering of the key stakeholders in leprosy. The 21st Congress was organized by Indian leprosy associations and the Central Leprosy Division of the Indian Health Ministry alongside the International Leprosy Association (ILA).

[November 4, New Delhi and Ranchi, India]

With Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director of the WHO South-East Asia Region, based in New Delhi.

 

With staff members of the Sasakawa-India Leprosy Foundation (S-ILF), a charitable organization The Nippon Foundation established in New Delhi in 2006 for mainstreaming persons affected by leprosy through economic and social empowerment.

 

Arriving in Ranchi, the capital of the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, we were picked up by a bus with a big poster welcoming our party.

 

Meeting with Mr. Banna Gupta (far right), Minister of Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare of the state of Jharkhand.

 

With Ms. Maya Ranavare, new president of the Association of People Affected by Leprosy (APAL), an umbrella organization of self-settled leprosy colonies across India, after dinner at a hotel.

 

With Mr. Mohammad Jainauddin, APAL’s state leader for Jharkhand.

 

(To be continued)

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(2) Visit to India

November 25, 2022
I would like to share with you some of the photographs taken during my visit to India between November 3 and 10, 2022, as chairman of The Nippon Foundation and WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination. [November 5, Ranchi, India] Hoping to raise people’s awareness of our fight against leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease.   This doorman’s mustache was so impress