8 March 2021
Sasakawa Leprosy Initiative Hosts The Global Appeal and Webinar Series
Sasakawa Leprosy Initiative, which is a strategic alliance between Sasakawa Health Foundation, The Nippon Foundation, and WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, Yohei Sasakawa, organized The Global Appeal. The Global Appeal focuses on the right to work and was endorsed by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). For the first time, the Appeal was launched online. In the run-up to World Leprosy Day, the Initiative hosted a social media photo contest titled “Working with Dignity” in order to promote the idea that everyone has the right to work. Persons affected submitted photos of themselves and their jobs.The Initiative also hosted two webinars leading up to World Leprosy Day: Initiatives for Preservation of Leprosy History in Europe and Zero Leprosy for Whom in the Post-COVID World, which involved 22 organizations of persons affected.The Initiative, together with India’s Ministry of Health and WHO, jointly launched “Flipchart”, a user-friendly training material for Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) in India to assist in case detection at the grassroots level. Approximately 310,000 copies are being printed and distributed in six high-endemic states.