I Send “Don’t Forget Leprosy” Message from the Peak of Mount Fuji (1)
There was a reason why I had to climb iconic Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain, this summer.
Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, activities against leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, have been disrupted in many countries over the past two and a half years.
This prompted me, in my capacity as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, to initiate a “Don’t Forget Leprosy” campaign in August 2021 to send the message that leprosy and those affected by the disease must not be overlooked even amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In May, when I was recognized with the WHO Director-General’s Global Health Leaders Award 2022 for my decades long fight against leprosy, I shared with the audience a photo of world-famous Nepalese mountaineer Mr. Mingma Gyabu Sherpa holding a “Don’t Forget Leprosy” sign atop Mount Everest on May 15.
The photo had been taken at the suggestion of Mr. Santa Bir Lama, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), who with funding support from The Nippon Foundation has helped Nepal push forward in its drive to eliminate leprosy.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was delighted with the photo and suggested to me that we include it with a “Don’t Forget Leprosy” message that we would jointly send to the health ministers of WHO member states.
I readily consented to the idea and decided to add a photo of my own to be taken at the summit of Mount Fuji. This was the moment when I decided to scale Japan’s highest mountain this summer.
At first, my four sons balked at the idea of letting an 83-year-old senior citizen with a grade 1 disability－I have a pacemaker implanted in my chest－climb Mount Fuji.
But after I explained how keen I was to make the ascent as part of the “Don’t Forget Leprosy” campaign, they all not only agreed to let me go but joined me on the hike. Also joining my party were Ms. Natsuko Tominaga, a photographer of The Nippon Foundation, and another staff member, Mr. Mitsugu Kazawa, a former member of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces.
(To be continued)