In WHO Bulletin, I Offer My Prescription For Achieving Zero Leprosy
Published on September 9, 2024
The August issue of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization carries an article I wrote in my capacity as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination.
The Bulletin, the flagship periodical of WHO, was first published in 1948 and has become one of the world’s leading public health journals.
Titled “What’s needed to achieve zero leprosy,” my article first highlighted the dramatic progress made in bringing down case numbers over the past few decades as well as the steps that have been taken at the United Nations to address stigma and discrimination associated with the disease.
Despite this progress, I noted, leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is still with us, while discrimination against persons affected by leprosy remains deeply entrenched in many parts of the world.
In 2021, WHO released Towards zero leprosy: global leprosy (Hansen’s disease) strategy 2021–2030, calling for among other things, a 70% reduction in the annual number of new cases detected, and a 90% reduction in the rate per million population of new cases with grade-2 (visible) disability.
Furthermore, in 2023, WHO set new milestones and indicators for leprosy as part of a new Leprosy Elimination Framework.
In my article, I emphasized how these goals can be achieved, drawing on my experience of visiting over 100 countries as WHO Goodwill Ambassador. The key points are: an expression of political will at the leadership level in each country; budgetary commitments; and securing and allocating the necessary human resources.
I believe we have reached the last mile of our 100-mile journey against leprosy. But this last mile is the most difficult.
However, as I found during my successful climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro earlier this year as part of the “Don’t Forget Leprosy” campaign, there is one more key to completing any quest, and this I added as the conclusion to my article: a never-give-up spirit.
“What’s needed to achieve zero leprosy” in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization can be seen here.