No Leprosy Patients in Our Prefecture Movement
The , or No Leprosy Patients in Our Prefecture Movement, was a government funded Japanese public health and social movement which began between 1929 and 1934. Its mission was to systematically eliminate leprosy, (Hansen's disease), a readily transmissible, previously incurable, chronic infectious disease caused by M. leprae, from each prefecture in Japan. This was to be achieved by caring for those affected by the disease in government funded sanatoriums. Origin In 1927, the Japanese government planned the dissolution of leprosy communities (leper colonies). The district welfare officers of Aichi Prefecture, Mamoru Uchida and Soichiro Shiotani, studied the conditions of the communities of the Honmyoji Temple in Kumamoto Prefecture. Six patients wished to enter the Kyushu Sanatorium, (later Kikuchi Keifuen Sanatorium). However, they were refused by Matsuki Miyazaki, the director of the sanatorium. Uchida and Shiotani brought the patients to Kensuke Mitsuda at the Nagashima Aiseien Sanatorium. Together, the welfare officers and Mitsuda initiated the movement. In 1931, the concept was made law. In the same year, the Empress Teimei founded the Leprosy Prevention Association. Eiichi Shibusawa was its president. The birthday of the empress, around 25 June, marked the beginning of an annual Leprosy Prevention Week. In 1952, at the