The Leprosy Mission

The Leprosy Mission is a Christian international NGO. They are the largest and oldest player in the fight against leprosy and are working towards the goal of zero leprosy transmission by 2035. Their vision is 'leprosy defeated, lives transformed'.

As well as working towards zero leprosy transmission, The Leprosy Mission is committed to achieving zero disabilities as a consequence of leprosy and zero discrimination as a consequence of leprosy.

History

In December 1869, Wellesley Bailey, a young Irishman who was working as a teacher in the Punjab in India,[1]:22 came across a row of huts inhabited by men and women with serious disabilities and physical deformities. A colleague explained that they were suffering from leprosy. Bailey was shocked by what he saw. Afterwards he wrote:'I almost shuddered, yet I was at the same time fascinated, and I felt that if there was ever a Christlike work in the world it was to go amongst these poor sufferers and bring them the consolation of the gospel.'[1]:23

On returning to Ireland in 1874, Wellesley Bailey and his wife Alice began to hold meetings in Dublin to tell friends about their experiences of people affected by leprosy in India, and to raise money'.[1]:27 And so The Leprosy Mission, or The Mission to 'Lepers' as it was known then, was born.[2]

1874-1893 – The Baileys travel extensively in India to see the need of people affected by leprosy and to encourage support work.[1]

1891 – Wellesley Bailey visits Mandalay, Burma, to open the first TLM home for leprosy-affected people outside India.[1]:43

1917 – The Mission has extended its work throughout India and the Far East and now has 87 programmes in 12 countries, with support offices in eight countries.[1]:59

1940s – In South India, Paul Brand pioneers medical research and reconstructive surgery on leprosy deformities in hands and feet.[3]

1940s-50s – The first effective cure for leprosy, Dapsone, is introduced. Over the next 15 years, millions of patients are successfully treated.[1]:95

1950s – The Mission’s work is extended into Africa.[1]:84

1954 – World Leprosy Day is founded by Raoul Follereau, a French writer, to make sure that people everywhere know that leprosy still exists and is completely curable. It is usually held each year on the last Sunday in January.

1960s – Leprologists work to discover new drugs that are effective against leprosy as many people are discovered to have Dapsone-resistant leprosy.[1]

1965 – The Mission changes its name from 'The Mission to Lepers' to the Leprosy Mission to avoid the negative connotations of the word ‘leper.’[1]:100

1970s – TLM begins to extend its work to people's homes and communities, rather than just hospitals and asylums.[1]:107

1980 – Vincent Barry and his team win the 1980 UNESCO Science Prize for their discovery of anti-leprosy drug clofazimine, developed with the assistance of The Leprosy Mission.

1981 – World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a new combination drug treatment for leprosy, MDT[4] (Multi Drug Therapy). People are cured in as little as six months.

1990s – As many more people are cured, caring for people with lasting disabilities through social, economic, and physical rehabilitation becomes increasingly important.

2011 – The Leprosy Mission moves away from a centrally-directed regional structure and reformulates as a more decentralised Global Fellowship,[5] who signed the TLM Charter (see below, under 'Where The Leprosy Mission works'.

2017 – An ambitious new goal is set: to see no new cases of leprosy by 2035. This goal was agreed by the Members of TLM's Global Fellowship.

2019 – A new global strategy is launched with 3 priorities: 1) Zero leprosy transmission by 2035; 2) Towards zero leprosy disability; 3) Towards zero leprosy discrimination

Where The Leprosy Mission works

The Leprosy Mission works through a Global Fellowship,[5] composed of Members and Affiliates from 30 different countries.

Members: Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Chad, DR Congo, Denmark, England & Wales, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Sudan, and Timor Leste

Affiliates: Finland and Italy

The Fellowship came into being in 2011 when The Leprosy Mission Charter was signed. This charter committed all signees to:

  • A shared identity, vision, purpose, and values
  • Work together in mutual reliance
  • Actively add value to the total Fellowship and strengthen its effectiveness
  • Work with agreed accountability structures
  • Observe financial stewardship principles

The Members of the Global Fellowship are split into countries that implement leprosy work and countries that support leprosy work through fundraising. The Leprosy Mission's Global Fellowship is supported by an International Office in London, UK. This office operates as a central hub, providing leadership, co-ordination, facilitation, and operational services.

The Leprosy Mission also works through partners in Tanzania, Sri Lnka, Indonesia, and Thailand.

What The Leprosy Mission does

Hospitals and healthcare

The Leprosy Mission owns 14 hospitals in India,[6] one in Bangladesh, and one in Nepal. These hospitals are centres of excellence and provide an exceptional level of care to leprosy patients, as well as meeting the medical needs of the surrounding communities. These hospitals provide reconstructive surgery, physiotherapy, assistive devices, and special footwear. They also treat ulcers and leprosy reactions, providing counselling and mental health support, and health education. All of this is designed to enable people affected by leprosy to live independent and productive lives.

They also support a number of hospitals in Asia and Africa that are owned by the government or local church. The Leprosy Mission also supports leprosy control activities across many of the countries in which they work. Leprosy is a curable disease and if cases can be diagnosed and treated early enough, the disabilities associated with leprosy can be avoided.

Training and education

Leprosy is found predominantly in countries where poverty is widespread. To help prevent poverty amongst the leprosy community, The Leprosy Mission provides training and education to people affected by leprosy.

For school-age children, The Leprosy Mission provides support to help them to stay in school and finish their school education. For adults, The Leprosy Mission offers vocational training, which includes, for examples, training in mechanics, computers, agriculture, and printing.

Community Based Rehabilitation

People affected by leprosy are often ostracised by their communities, which prevents them from being able to participate in the economic, social, and political life of the society in which they live.

To tackle this issue, The Leprosy Mission supports community based rehabilitation programmes across Asia and Africa. This works includes promoting inclusive development, skills training, micro-finance, self-help groups, low-cost housing, self-care groups, and supporting Disabled People's Organisations. Through this kind of holistic care, people affected by leprosy are not just cured of leprosy, but are also given a chance to live full lives as a part of their communities.

Advocacy

The Leprosy Mission advocates for the rights of people affected by leprosy and aims to reduce the physical and social barriers that they face. They also work to promote advocacy training for people affected by leprosy so that they can self-advocate. This training ensures that people affected by leprosy know their rights and have the self-confidence to lobby for change at the local and national governmental levels.

The Leprosy Mission has been working with the United Nations to ensure that governments are under pressure to protect the rights of people affected by leprosy. This advocacy is based on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). At the national level, The Leprosy Mission works with national governments to ensure that leprosy receives the appropriate time, attention, and resources. The Leprosy Mission have also been focused on ensuring that all laws that explicitly discriminate against people affected by leprosy across the world are repealed.

Research

The Leprosy Mission conducts research into leprosy that can help to answer many unanswered questions.[7] This includes work to prevent the spread of leprosy, to prevent and treat leprosy reaction, and to understand why some people encounter severe nerve damage despite good treatment.

The research is conducted in the Mycobacterial Research Laboratory in Anandaban Hospital, Nepal, at the Rural Health Programme, Nilphamari, Bangladesh and at the Stanley Browne Laboratory in New Delhi, India.

References
  1. Davey, Cyril (1987). Caring comes first : the story of the Leprosy Mission. Basingstoke: Marshall Pickering. ISBN 9780551014343.
  2. An Inn Called Welcome: The story of the Mission to Lepers 1874-1917, A. Donald Miller, 1965
  3. Ten Fingers for God, Dorothy Clarke Wilson, Hodder and Stoughton, 1965
  4. "WHO | WHO Multidrug therapy (MDT)". WHO. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  5. "StackPath". www.leprosymission.org.
  6. "StackPath". www.leprosymission.org. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  7. "StackPath" (PDF). www.leprosymission.org.

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