Italian Association Amici di Raoul Follereau (AIFO)

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Press Room: Persons for Interviews in Rome

A Patron Saint for Human Rights
CANONIZATION OF FATHER DAMIEN
Rome, 10-12 October 2009

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General

DOUGLAS SOUTAR

GENERAL SECRETARY, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ANTI-LEPROSY ASSOCIATIONS /(ILEP), U.K. http://www.ilep.org.uk

ADDRESS IN ROME: CASA LA SALLE - Via Aurelia 472, Tel 06/666981 Fax 06/66000384, Personal mobile +44 -7890942153

INTERVIEW LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ILEP was founded in 1966 to promote and facilitate co-operation and collaboration between its 14 Members, by co-ordinating their support to, and partnerships with leprosy programmes, representing their common interests and providing technical expertise to the Federation, its Members and other parties.

It collaborates closely with the World Health Organization (WHO), particularly its Global Leprosy Team in New Delhi and the Disability and Rehabilitation Unit (DAR) in Geneva, in the promotion and implementation of the WHO Global Strategy for Further Reducing the Leprosy Burden and Sustaining Leprosy Control Activities (2006-2010).

The ILEP Technical Commission seeks to provide advice and guidance to ILEP Members and their partners. It reviews technical advice and international training courses and makes needs assessments to identify gaps. Current areas of concern include: monitoring of data on leprosy; implementation of prevention of disability coverage and quality; implementation of community-based rehabilitation guidelines; support for sustainability and training; development of toolkit indicators of quality for use in leprosy programmes; research and development and stigma.

Mr Soutar became General Secretary of ILEP in September 2005. In 1976 he gained an MA in Geography from the University of Edinburgh. He worked as Programmes Officer for Christian Aid (1987-1994) and for Minority Rights Group (1994-1995), before being employed by LEPRA Health in Action as their Programmes Director until he joined ILEP. He is responsible for co-ordinating the development of ILEP strategies and policies in conjunction with the ILEP Board. As General Secretary of ILEP one of his key roles is to represent ILEP to external partners and agencies in order to further anti-leprosy activities. He also has an important role to play in helping to ensure that the dignity and human rights of people affected by leprosy are upheld and honoured.