The Nippon Foundation, WHO Jointly Launch Global Appeal 2024 to End Stigma and Discrimination Against Persons Affected by Leprosy (2)

Also contributing a video message to the ceremony at WHO headquarters in Geneva on January 31 to launch the Global Appeal 2024 to End Stigma and Discrimination Against Persons Affected by Leprosy was Dr. Bardan Jung Rana, the WHO Representative in Bangladesh, which has the fifth-highest number of leprosy cases in the world.

He noted that at national leprosy conferences in 2019 and 2023, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had declared her firm commitment to achieving zero leprosy in her country by 2030, and he expressed willingness to work with the government and the private sector to realize this goal.

In a conversation with me, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the WHO's Global Leprosy (Hansen's disease) Strategy 2021-2030 clearly sets out what needs to be done to achieve zero leprosy, and that the WHO will do everything to support countries in implementing it.

He emphasized that promoting community cooperation and eliminating stigma and discrimination through a people-centered approach will contribute to early diagnosis and treatment and prevent disability.

He also spoke of my activities as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination over the years. I was honored and humbled when he said: “You (have) inspired me and representing WHO, I can also say you (have) inspired us” to work for a leprosy-free world.

I noted that WHO and Sasakawa Leprosy Initiative have been collaborating on leprosy elimination for almost 50 years, and that working on one particular cause for this long is quite rare. "There has to be an outcome from this long collaboration," I said.

I told the participants that I have visited more than 120 countries in my quest for a world without leprosy and stigma and discrimination associated with it.

I then announced that I would be travelling to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and hoist a banner with the message “Don’t Forget Leprosy” at the summit to mark a fresh start in the fight against leprosy in Africa and other parts of the world.

Earlier, on January 28, I issued a joint message for World Leprosy Day with WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros, calling for “a well-informed, inclusive society, where every member of the community has a role to play and can contribute towards a leprosy-free world.”

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The text of the joint message for World Leprosy Day 2024 can be seen here.