Anti-Leprosy Day 2020 Ceremony

His Excellency Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mr. Tarun Das, Chairman of Sasakawa-India Leprosy Foundation, Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry, Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Dr. Derek Lobo, ladies and gentlemen.

January 30th, Anti-Leprosy Day, is observed throughout India as the day to commemorate Gandhi’s lifelong care and compassion for persons affected by leprosy, while advocating inclusion and rejecting discrimination. I feel it is highly meaningful to be reunited with you, and have this opportunity to address you, on such a day.

Furthermore, under Prime Minister Modi, the government of India is working hard on the ambitious goal of making India free of leprosy, and leprosy stigma, by 2030. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Minister Vardan and his staff at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the efforts they are making.

The first time I met persons affected by leprosy was about 40 years ago, when I visited a leprosarium with my late father, Ryoichi Sasakawa. They were abandoned by their families, rejected by society, deprived of their freedom and hope. All because of leprosy. I was shocked, but my father took these severely disfigured patients by the hand, spoke with them, held them tight and cried. This was the first time I had ever seen him in tears and I was moved by the sight. This is when I decided to devote my life to carrying on his work.

Since then, I have been committed to the struggle against leprosy and its associated stigma and discrimination around the world. My “battlefield” is where the problems lie as that is where solutions can be found. I have met countless numbers of persons affected by leprosy in the jungles of Africa, arid deserts, the Amazon rainforest, and other remote areas. I am now 81 years old, and over a period of 40 years, I have visited 120 countries and regions.

MDT must be delivered to the very last patient! This is what I felt as I continued to visit many places and patients. With this in mind, The Nippon Foundation decided to donate 50 million US Dollars and distribute MDT for free, for five years, around the world from 1995. During that time, 3.32 million patients were cured. Since 2000, the free supply of MDT has continued, thanks to Novartis.

I had assumed that everything would be resolved if the disease was cured. However, I was wrong. The situation was completely different from what I imagined. Even though the drugs were free, not all patients came forward for treatment. Moreover, there were many hidden cases. I learned there was severe discrimination toward the disease.

People could no longer go to school. And they could no longer work. They suffered from discrimination, all because of leprosy. Fearing discrimination, some avoided treatment, causing the disease to progress. I realized that leprosy was not a simple medical problem, but that it was clearly a human rights problem of stigma and discrimination infecting society.

I decided to take the matter to the United Nations. In 2003, I visited the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva for the first time. I wanted to see leprosy placed on the human rights agenda. But to my disappointment and surprise, leprosy had never once been considered as a human rights issue.

On that first visit, I had the chance to make a presentation to the High Commissioner’s staff. Only five people were present. It showed how little interest there was in leprosy at the time.

But I am not a man to give up. Repeated visits to Geneva over the next seven years resulted in a UN Human Rights Council resolution on “Elimination of Discrimination against Persons Affected by Leprosy and Their Family Members”. This was followed by a UN General Assembly resolution, adopted unanimously, in December 2010.

We also have the Global Appeal. Since it was launched in 2006, the annual Global Appeal has become an important tool for calling for an end to stigma and discrimination toward those affected by leprosy.

The Global Appeal carries the messages that leprosy is curable, treatment is free, and social discrimination has no place. Over the years, it has been endorsed by individuals and organizations from the worlds of religion, politics, business, law, medicine and more, so that the Appeal reaches as many people as possible.

Supported by the international paralympic committee, this year marked the 15th global appeal. It was launched earlier this week in Tokyo, where this year’s Olympic and Paralympic games are going to be hosted.

Our fight against leprosy is supported by many stakeholders. In particular, here in India, I would like to make particular mention of the Association of People Affected by Leprosy and Sasakawa-India Leprosy Foundation, who have been cooperating greatly over many years in efforts to eliminate leprosy and eliminate stigma.

Today, thanks to the efforts of Mr. Bannerjee and Mr. Das, a memorandum of understanding has been signed between the CII and S-ILF, adding CII to the fight against leprosy. For this I am most appreciative. I hope that the CII and S-ILF will work together to educate Indian companies about leprosy, and that this will further expand employment opportunities for persons affected by the disease.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I don’t want to be asked to open a leprosy hospital; I want to be asked to close one.” With those words in mind, let us all do our best to ensure that by 2030 there will be no more leprosy, and no more discrimination against leprosy, in India.

Thank you very much.