Sasakawa Vows to Continue Support for Fighting Leprosy in Bangladesh

Chairman of the Nippon Foundation and Sasakawa Health Foundation in Japan Yohey Sasakawa speaking at the Conference of Organizations of Persons Affected by Leprosy in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Credit: Rafiqul Islam / IPSBy Rafiqul IslamDHAKA, Bangladesh, Dec 12 2019 (IPS) Chairman of The Nippon Foundation and Sasakawa Health Foundation, Yohei Sasakawa, has assured Bangladesh of continuing support for the Zero Leprosy Initiative announced by the country’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, aimed at eliminating leprosy by 2030. Sasakawa was speaking at the opening of the first ever meeting of organizations working on leprosy in Bangladesh. “The government has already announced the Zero Leprosy Initiative that will help eliminate the discrimination the leprosy patients have been facing,” he told a conference in the country’s capital. Prime Minister Hasina on Wednesday (December 11) also addressed the conference and Sasakawa reminded activists that the country’s leader expressed her commitment to make Bangladesh free from leprosy in the next decade. Several organizations working in the field of leprosy, like members from the Leprosy and TB Coordinating Committee (LTCC) and People Organizations with support from The Nippon Foundation and Sasakawa Health Foundation, are attending the gathering. Bangladesh’s leprosy burden ranks fourth-highest in the world. Four thousand new cases are detected annually – an average of 11 to 12 cases per day over the last ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Asia-Pacific Conferences Development & Aid Featured Headlines Health Human Rights Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Women's Health National Leprosy Conference - Dhaka 2019 Source Type: news