【Photo Diary】 (1) Visit to Geneva for the 76th World Health Assembly

Published on June 29, 2023

I would like to share with you some of the photographs taken during my visit to Geneva, Switzerland, from May 21 to 28, 2023, to attend the 76th World Health Assembly－the WHO’s decision-making body－in my capacity as chairman of The Nippon Foundation and WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination.

During my stay in the Swiss city, I met with WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and the health ministers and other representatives of various member states to take stock of our global fight against leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, in each country and region in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to explore the way forward to give fresh momentum to our campaign for a leprosy-free world.

I also attended a ceremony to present the 39th WHO Sasakawa Health Prize, which was established by my late father, Ryoichi Sasakawa to recognize notable advances made in the promotion of primary health care around the world.

To pursue my life-long quest for a world without leprosy and the associated stigma and discrimination, I have made a total of 552 overseas trips to 122 countries during the past 40 years. But my visit to Geneva marked the first time that I stayed in a single city for more than five full days in a row.

[May 21, En route to Geneva, Switzerland]

A four-hour transit in Frankfurt en route from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to Geneva. Frankfurt Airport is huge and we needed to walk a long distance between terminals.

 

Arriving in Geneva about 20 hours after we left Tokyo.

[May 22, Geneva, Switzerland]
 

With Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia.

 

With Dr. Asela Gunawardena, Director General of Health Services, the Health Ministry of Sri Lanka.

 

With Dr. Amr Kandil, Acting Health Minister of Egypt.

 

With Mr. Mohan Bahadur Basnet, Health Minister of Nepal.

 

With Dr. Shri. S Gopalakrishnan, Special Secretary (Health) of India.

 

With Prof. Jean Louis Hanitrala Rakotovao, Public Health Minister of Madagascar.

(To be continued)

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With the two recipients of the 39th WHO Sasakawa Health Prize at the award ceremony in Geneva on May 26, 2023－Professor Vichai Tienthavorn (left) of Thailand and Dr. Archana Amatya (right), executive director of the Nick Simons Institute of Nepal.At a ceremony in Geneva on May 26, I presented the 39th WHO Sasakawa Health Prize to Professor Vichai Tienthavorn of Thailand and the Nick Simons Institu

【Photo Diary】 (2) Visit to Geneva for the 76th World Health Assembly

June 30, 2023
I would like to share with you some of the photographs taken during my visit to Geneva, Switzerland, from May 21 to 28, 2023, to attend the 76h World Health Assembly－the WHO’s decision-making body－in my capacity as chairman of The Nippon Foundation and WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination. [May 23, Geneva, Switzerland] With Ambassador Dominic Mading (right), South Sudan’s Deputy Permane