Corporate honchos from across the world under the banner of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), world’s largest business organisation, will pledge their support to the Global Appeal 2019 against Leprosy soon here to help create much-needed awareness about the crippling disease to ensure its logical end.
The Global Appeal has been initiated by Yohei Sasakawa, WHO Goodwill Ambassador for leprosy and Chairman of the Nippon Foundation. He has been awarded the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2018 in recognition of his work towards the eradication of the disease worldwide including India where his organisation in India, Sasakawa-India Leprosy Foundation (SILF) has been focusing on providing treatment and social and economic upliftment of the sector across the country.
Though leprosy is curable, it continue to be mired with stigma and discrimination, restricting the people from the sector to come forward to avail timely medical treatment and adequate rehabilitation. No wonder, despite various efforts, India remain home to nearly half of the total 2 lakh leprosy people in the world.
It is expected that with involvement of over 45 million member firms associated with the ICC in around 100 nations will hold series of sensitization and awareness workshops among their employees to end the disease, which if not treated in time can leave the patient disabled for life.
In the past too, Global appeal has been announced in partnership with various partners including the International Bar Association which endorsed the pledge to end stigma and discrimination against people affected by leprosy.
Incidentally, India which has several discriminatory laws against persons affected by sector, it was just in 2016 and then recently repealed a few of them after much hue and cry from the sector and activists.
“In 2016, for example, it repealed the draconian colonial-era Lepers Act, while earlier this month it repealed a law allowing leprosy as legitimate grounds for divorce. Both initiatives are to be commended,” WHO regional director for South-East Asia Poonam Khetrapal Singh too noted recently in her statement.
“Community based economic rehabilitation, prevention of discrimination through awareness particularly among school kids and people in general is necessary to not only take care of those who have been affected and ostracised but also of their children who suffer stigma even when they don’t have the disease,” said Vineeta Shanker, Executive Director SILF.
Previous partners have included human rights groups, religious and faith leaders, business chiefs, and university chancellors, informed Tehseen Zaidi, Communication Manager from the SILF.
As per the official figures available till March 2018, about 0.9 lakh leprosy cases were reported, as compared to 0.86 lakh cases in 2016-17 and 0.88 lakh cases in 2015-16.
Also, some States and Union territories are now reporting a higher prevalence rate — Odisha (1.38), Bihar (1.18) and Lakshadweep (2.25). Currently, India’s overall leprosy prevalence rate is 0.70 per 10,000 population, up from 0.66 previously.