Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina Vows Anew to Achieve “Zero Leprosy” by 2030 (1)

I visited Bangladesh in mid-November for the country’s second National Leprosy Conference, attending in my capacity as chairman of The Nippon Foundation and WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination.

The Sasakawa Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) Initiative co-organized the November 12 conference at a hotel in the capital Dhaka with Bangladesh’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I was truly honored by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s presence at the meeting, which was also joined by some 500 people, including Minister of Health and Family Welfare Zahid Maleque and Health Secretary Md. Jahangir Alam as well as medical professionals, NGOs, and representatives of organizations of people affected by leprosy, including the ALO Society and the Bogura Federation.

To inaugurate the conference, Prime Minister Hasina declared: “We are firmly committed to erasing leprosy from the country by 2030,” calling on all concerned to increase funding and take other necessary measures to achieve the ambitious target.

Unveiling the “National Strategic Guideline for Leprosy 2023-2030,” she urged local drug manufacturing companies to produce quality medicines for treating those affected by leprosy.

The prime minister also called upon all to stand by leprosy-affected persons, shunning the old misconception and superstition that they can't be touched. "We all will have to come out of the old misconception. Many have already come out of it. We'll have to leave the old beliefs and superstitions," she said.

In my speech at the conference, I expressed my deepest gratitude to Prime Minister Hasina for her presence and unwavering commitment to zero leprosy and assured her of my cooperation in the campaign to achieve that goal.

(To be continued)

The text of my speech at second National Leprosy Conference in Bangladesh on November 12 can be seen here.