【Photo Diary】 (1) Visit to Norway and Portugal
I would like to share with you some of the photographs taken during my visit to Norway and Portugal between February 27 and March 3, 2023, as chairman of The Nippon Foundation and WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination.
In Bergen, I attended an event to mark the 150th anniversary of Dr. Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen's discovery of the leprosy bacillus, Mycobacterium leprae, in 1873.
Later I flew to Lisbon, where I took part in the 10th World Ocean Summit, the leading global conference on the marine economy, organized by Economist Impact, part of London-based multinational media company The Economist Group.
[February 27, London, the U.K., and Bergen, Norway]
[February 28, Bergen, Norway]
The discovery of the leprosy bacillus, M. leprae, was a watershed moment in the history of leprosy and global health, marking the first time that a pathogen had been identified as causing a disease in humans. It also had far-reaching consequences for global health, helping to transform approaches to disease and infection.
The event brought together some 200 participants, including Mayor of Bergen Linn Kristin Engø, Dr. Hansen's great-grandson Abbi Patrix, persons affected by leprosy from Brazil and Ghana, and experts from the university and city.
It was jointly organized by University of Bergen and the Sasakawa Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) Initiative (SLI), which 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.
The event was part of SLI's ongoing "Don't Forget Leprosy" campaign I launched in 2021 to ensure that leprosy is not overlooked amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of some 260,000. It was a major European trading and seafaring port and an important trading center for Hanseatic merchants between the 13th and 17th centuries. A lot of the architecture in the city, preserved or rebuilt in the same style, is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Although my stay this time lasted only 16 hours, I look forward to coming back to the city to attend an international symposium on leprosy that SLI plans to organize on June 21-22, 2023. The symposium, which is part of the 150th anniversary commemoration of Dr. Hansen's discovery, also comes under the "Don't Forget Leprosy" campaign.
(To be continued)
The text of my speech at the event in Bergen, Norway, on February 28 to mark the 150th anniversary of Dr. Hansen's discovery can be seen here.