Mr. Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of The Nippon Foundation, was notified by the Government of India on January 18, 2019 that Gandhi Peace Prize for 2018 was awarded on him. Mr. Sasakawa is a Goodwill Ambassador of the World Health Organization for Leprosy Elimination, and the award was given to him in recognition of his tremendous work towards the eradication of the disease in India and across the world.
The Gandhi Peace Prize was established in 1995 by the Government of India to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth. The panel of judges for the current award included Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chief Justice of India, the Speaker of the lower house of Parliament, and the leader of the Indian National Congress party in the lower house. It’s one of the world’s most prestigious peace prizes, with past non-indian recipients including Nobel Peace Prize laureates Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, and Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. Mr. Yohei Sasakawa is the first Japanese national to receive the prize.
We are very glad to hear the news, and feel very much honoured that Chairman Sasakawa’s unselfish devotion to combat leprosy and the social stigma associated with it for more than half of his life, was rewarded in this way. It inspires us that “nothing is impossible, and strong will and patience will find the way to the solution”.
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