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Prof Kyaw Myint, H.E. Minister for Health delivering the prize
to a winner of essay competition.
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On 6 February 2009, the Ministry of Health organized a
ceremony to commemorate the sixth Leprosy Elimination Day, at the main
conference hall of Ministry of Health, Nay Pyi Taw.
The ceremony was to mark the sixth anniversary of the declaration for
achievement of leprosy elimination status in Myanmar that was announced on 6
February 2003. Elimination of leprosy as a public health problem indicated
that leprosy prevalence in Myanmar
became less than one per 10,000 population.
The commemorative ceremony was opened by the H.E. Minister
for Health, Prof Kyaw Myint who delivered an opening speech. In his speech
His Excellency highlighted the long history of leprosy control programme in Myanmar over the last fifty
years. He also described the efforts of national leprosy programme
along with the international collaboration, including WHO, Sasakawa Memorial Health Foundation, Nippon Foundation, Novartis and International Federation of Leprosy
Elimination Associations (ILEP). The slogan for this year was “Treat Early:
Prevent Disability. The ceremony was attended by the Deputy Minister for
Health, Prof Mya Oo, Directors-General of the Ministry of Health, senior
officials from Departments under the Ministry of Health, representatives from
Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation, Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare
Association and other national NGOs and international organizations such as
the International Medical Centre of Japan (IMCJ), Japan International Cooperation
Agency and the Leprosy Mission International.
Later, H.E. Minister and H.E Deputy Minister delivered the
prizes to the winners of essay competition on the leprosy elimination. Ms
Margareta Skold PHA/WCO-MMR and Director of IMCJ, Dr Norihisa
Ishil also delivered the prizes. It was followed by
a short video clip focusing on care and support of persons affected by
leprosy. After the ceremony, the dignitaries and invited guests viewed the
mini-exhibition displayed by the Ministry of Health featuring various
activities of leprosy control programme in Myanmar.
The official ceremony was followed by a series of talk on
leprosy programme in Myanmar by a number of renowned
speakers including the national programme manager,
famous writers and an actress who has played various roles in three different
video clips raising leprosy awareness. The chairperson of the talk programme, Dr Kyaw Nyunt Sein, Deputy Director General of
Department of Health and the co-chair Dr Maung Maung
Gyi, former WHO national consultant on leprosy also
gave remarks complementing the speakers.
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