Global Appeal 2009
Leprosy is a disease as old as human history.
Its disfiguring effects struck fear in people’s hearts.
Patients were ostracized for lack of an effective cure.
Now a cure exists, and it’s available free of charge.
Diagnosed early and treated promptly, leprosy leaves no trace.
But mistaken beliefs about the disease persist.
They perpetuate social and economic discrimination.
This discrimination causes emotional and psychological pain.
To conquer this age-old stigma, drugs alone are not enough.
All of us must be part of the social healing process.
People affected by leprosy and their families have a right to a normal life.
Denying basic human rights to someone because he or she once had a disease is wrong.
Let us all join hands to eliminate fear, discrimination, and social stigma wherever they exist.
Let the healing begin today.
Signatories for Global Appeal 2009
His Eminence Ammar A. Al-Hakim | Vice President of Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq |
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His Eminence Archbishop Istrinsky Arseniy | Vicar of the Holy Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia |
Sant Shri Morari Bapuji | Shri Sitaram Seva Trust India |
His Eminence Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan | President, Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, Vatican |
His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet | |
The Very Reverend John Robert Hall | Dean of Westminster, United Kingdom |
His Royal Highness Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan | President Emeritus World Conference of Religions for Peace |
The Reverend Dr. Samuel Kobia | General Secretary, World Council of Churches |
The Reverend Stavros Kofinas | Coordinator of the European Network of Health Care Chaplaincy Representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople |
His Eminence Archbishop Yukei Matsunaga | President, Japan Buddhist Federation |
His Eminence Rabbi Yona Metzger | The Chief Rabbi of Israel |
His Eminence Gaudencio Borbon Cardinal Rosales | The Cardinal Archbishop of Manila, the Philippines |
Priestess Beatriz Schulthess | President, Indigenous Peoples Ancestral Spiritual Council |
His Eminence K.H. Sahal Mahfud | Chairman, Indonesian Council of Ulamas |
His Holiness Tep Vong | The Great Buddhist Supreme Patriarch of the Kingdom of Cambodia |
The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu | Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa |
Yohei Sasakawa | Chairman of The Nippon Foundation, Japan; WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination |