"ASEAN and The Nippon Foundation collaborate on new leprosy project"

On Monday, June 15, the ASEAN Secretariat--The Nippon Foundation Project on Leprosy and Human Dignity was kicked off at the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The aim of the project is to affect social attitudes regarding leprosy through the dissimination of correct information through the media, and to work toward reintegrating people who have had the disease back into society.

Present at the launching ceremony were H.E. Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General of ASEAN, Chairman Yohei Sasakawa of The Nippon Foundation, ambassadors and government officials from ASEAN nations and around the world, as well as and representatives of NGOs and international organizations such as the World Health Organization.

In his opening address, Dr. Pitsuwan affirmed the importance of healing the societal aspect of leprosy, saying, "ASEAN aspires to be a caring and compassionate society and we aspire to establish the ASEAN Community by 2015. Therefore, we cannot leave any issue of this major proportion undetected."

Chairman Sasakawa, in his role as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, offered concrete proposals for addressing the problem, based on 40 years of experience in the field:
"I believe that three approaches are particularly important. The first is to appeal to a country's leaders to end discrimination. We need to ask them to see if there are any discriminatory passages in existing legislation and have them take steps to reform them. In addition, we must ask them to implement awareness campaigns to root out social stigma.　The second approach involves ensuring that correct information about leprosy reaches everyone in society. This can be done at schools, via awareness campaigns and through the mass media.　The third approach involves ensuring that the voices of people affected by leprosy are heard."
In the afternoon, a workshop was offered, at which papers were given on such themes as the interaction between action groups and the business community, the involvement of national media, and recent social changes.

The workshop was rounded off with an informative and lively question and answer session on the topic of reducing the stigmatization of people affected by leprosy in ASEAN nations.


Leprosy is a disease that affects the peripheral nerves and that if untreated can lead to disfigurement and deformity. However, since the advent of multidrug therapy in the 1980s and a push, started by The Nippon Foundation, to provide free medicine around the world, the number of people with the disease has dropped dramatically. In 1981, there were 122 nations with a prevalence rate higher than 1 in 10,000. Today, this stands at only 3 — Brazil, Nepal and East Timor.

1 in 10,000 is WHO’s target for elimination of leprosy because at this level, the disease becomes easily controllable by local health services. However, in many countries, the question of whether a person has been cured or not is often irrelevant, with former patients and their families continuing to be treated as outcasts for the rest of their lives. The workshop aimed to correct this trend in ASEAN nations.