Making the Impossible Possible, Chronicles of an Ambassador ’s Lifelong Frontline Battle to End Leprosy

WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, Yohei Sasakawa, would like to create a society where there is social inclusion. It is this philosophy that motivates his life-long campaign to end discrimination against people affected by leprosy. Credit: Sasakawa Leprosy InitiativeBy Joyce ChimbiNAIROBI, Jun 19 2023 (IPS) In 1974, Yohei Sasakawa accompanied his father to a leprosy hospital he had funded. He saw leprosy patients inside the hospital still and expressionless. The smell of leprosy filled the air, the smell of pus from open sores. His father sat with the patients, touched their hands and faces, and encouraged them to be hopeful. Treatment was within reach, and they would live. At that moment, Sasakawa wondered about the life that awaited these patients outside the hospital – a difficult life of discrimination and alienation, with many ostracized from society. He silently vowed to dedicate his life to ending leprosy. Yohei Sasakawa chronicles his campaign to rid the world of leprosy in his biography Making the Impossible Possible. Credit: Hurst Publishers In his newly published book, Making the Impossible Possible, he chronicles face-to-face encounters with an ancient disease shrouded in many myths and misconceptions. His travels to leprosy-endemic countries as WHO’s Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination started in 2001 and has involved over 200 trips to nearly seventy countries. “Nearly all of my destinations have been remote locations where people li...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Development & Aid Editors' Choice Featured Global Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau IPS UN Bureau Report Sasakawa Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) Initiative Sasakawa Leprosy Source Type: news