As the chairperson of the Organizing Committee of this Congress, I would like to thank all the participants for their understanding, patience and collaboration which made this Congress a success as far as it went, and now I am uncrossing my fingers with a great sense of relief.
Dr. Jessner's introduction also had the following. "At this conference there was a will to work, knowing that it was not preaching to deaf ears or preparing worthwhile material just to be quietly field away, knowing rather that its outcomes would be put into practice as soon as possible".
The first Congress 100 years ago was organized in response to German Government's need to do something for sudden influx of leprosy patients among Russian migrant workers. The government was eager to receive recommendations of the congress.
Our situation today is almost opposite. With successful "Elimination Program", many governments are lowering their political commitments, if not totally losing their interests. Indeed we may be preaching to deaf ears in some cases. So what happens after this Congress, if anything happens at all, depends on how each of you, the participants of this Congress, will take initiative in putting what we have identified as important items into practice. The real value of this congress will be judged by what happens over the next five years as a result of this meeting. Judging from serious discussions which took place during the Congress, I am rather optimistic, that something useful will take place. But in order to ensure that happens I have asked the members of the new Council to take responsibility in following up some of the recommendation of the workshops.
In this connection, I was happy to observe that many of you have attended the sessions outside of your specialty. By participating in most of the plenary sessions, you now have a better understanding of your own future contribution within a total context of "Working toward a World without Leprosy". One new feature of this congress was involvement of so many persons affected by leprosy themselves, as regular participants, and not just guests. I trust that their potential contribution as our partners in our future work is now recognized and accepted.
"A nation without vision will perish" says the Proverbs of the Old Testament. So is an association and our vision is to achieve "A World Without Leprosy".
However, some people may have some confusion as to our exact goal, because of my presentation on the opening day. I shall be most happy if we can reach "A World Without Leprosy", but to be honest, it is most unlikely that we will reach such an Utopian State in any foreseeable future. But that is not a reason to discard such a goal, as long as we acknowledge it to be an ultimate goal. Hope is a great promoter of our endeavor.
"A World Without Problems related to Leprosy, both medical and social" is much more down to earth goal as against a celestial goal of "A World Without Leprosy". It is more likely to be achievable. It enables us to plan realistic actions which could solve these problems one by one.
This Congress has identified many issues which need our immediate attention, and have made suggestion for solving some of them. It is up to us to take up these challenges.
