The Leprosy Mission is a Christian international NGO. They are the largest and oldest organisation working in the fight against leprosy and are working towards the goal of zero leprosy transmission by 2035.
As well as working towards zero leprosy transmission, The Leprosy Mission is committed to achieving zero disabilities as a consequence of leprosy and zero leprosy discrimination.
In 2024, Leprosy Mission marked 150 years of fighting leprosy.[1] Its beginning marked by from the time that Wellesley Bailey and his wife Alice began regular meetings in Dublin to tell friends about their experiences of people affected by leprosy in India, and to raise money'.[2]
Bailey, a Christian from Ireland, had been working as a teacher in the Punjab in India.[3] [4] During this time he had come across a row of huts inhabited by men and women with serious disabilities and physical deformities. His friend Dr Morrison, a leader of the American Presbyterian Mission in Ambala, explained that they were suffering from leprosy.[5] 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 Christ-like work in the world it was to go amongst these poor sufferers and bring them the consolation of the gospel."[6]1874-1893 – The Baileys travel extensively in India to see the need of people affected by leprosy and to encourage support work and donations.
1891 – Wellesley Bailey visits Mandalay, Burma, to open the first TLM home for leprosy-affected people outside India.: 43
1910s – 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, including the auxiliary which would become Leprosy Mission Australia. .
1930s – TLM began to develop into a medical mission with the vision to help eradicate leprosy. In 1930 it was working in 100 centres across 15 nations, though most of their work was in India.[7]
1940s – In South India, Paul Brand pioneers medical research and reconstructive surgery on leprosy deformities in hands and feet.
1940s-50s – The first effective cure for leprosy, Dapsone, is introduced. Over the next 15 years, millions of patients are successfully treated.: 95
1950s – The Mission's work is extended into Africa.: 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 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.
1965 – The Mission changes its name from 'The Mission to Lepers' to ‘The Leprosy Mission’ to avoid the negative connotations of the word ‘leper,’ which is now understood to be a derogatory word': 100
1970s – TLM begins to extend its work to people's homes and communities, rather than just hospitals and asylums.: 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 (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, the Members of which 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 upon by the Members of TLM's Global Fellowship.
2019 – A new global strategy is launched with three priorities: 1) Zero leprosy transmission by 2035; 2) Towards zero leprosy disability; 3) Towards zero leprosy discrimination
2024 – The Leprosy Mission celebrates its 150th anniversary and prepares to launch a new global strategy
The Leprosy Mission works through a Global Fellowship, composed of Members and Affiliates from 28 different countries.
The Global Fellowship came into being in 2011 when The Leprosy Mission Charter was signed. This charter committed all signees to:
The Members of the Global Fellowship are split into countries that implement leprosy work and countries that support leprosy work through fundraising, while some countries do both. The Leprosy Mission's Global Fellowship is supported by an International Office in London, UK. This office operates as a central hub, providing leadership, coordination, facilitation, and operational services.
National Committees are in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Eire, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, Spain.[8]
The Leprosy Mission also works through partners in Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
The Leprosy Mission owns 14 hospitals in India, one in Bangladesh, and one in Nepal. These hospitals are centres of excellence that provide care to leprosy patients, as well as meeting the medical needs of the surrounding communities. The hospitals treat ulcers and leprosy reactions, providing counselling, mental health support, and health education. They also provide reconstructive surgery, physiotherapy, assistive devices, and special footwear. In 2022, 1,335 people underwent reconstructive surgery with The Leprosy Mission.[9] There are mobile prosthetic units in Nigeria and Myanmar that provide medical care to those who have lost their limbs. All of this is designed to enable people affected by leprosy to live independent and productive lives.
The Leprosy Mission supports a number of hospitals in Asia and Africa that are owned by the government or local church. They also support 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.[10]
Leprosy is found predominantly in countries where poverty is widespread. To help prevent poverty amongst the leprosy community, The Leprosy Mission provides education to people affected by leprosy, offering formal education and literacy classes.
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 example, training in mechanics, computers, agriculture, and printing.
The Leprosy Mission runs training sessions to ensure that general health care workers can recognise early symptoms of leprosy, treat it with Multi-Drug Therapy, and reduce the risk that the disease spreads to others.
There is also leprosy awareness training for the communities with leprosy through which the people learn about the early symptoms of leprosy and understand the importance of seeking out free Multi-Drug Therapy.
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 work includes promoting inclusive development, skills training, micro-finance, self-help groups, low-cost housing, self-care groups, and supporting Disabled People's Organisations.
The Leprosy Mission works alongside persons affected by leprosy so that they can advocate for their rights and reduce the physical and social barriers they face. The Mission provides 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 has also been focused on repealing all laws that explicitly discriminate against people affected by leprosy across the world.[11]
The Leprosy Mission conducts research into leprosy that can help to answer many unanswered questions. 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. Around 70% of people affected by leprosy may struggle with mental illness (anxiety or depression), so The Leprosy Mission also works to understand the link between leprosy and inner wellbeing,
The research is conducted in the Mycobacterial Research Laboratory in Anandaban Hospital, Nepal, at the Rural Health Programme, Nilphamari, Bangladesh, at the Stanley Browne Laboratory in New Delhi, India, and through TLM’s field projects across Asia and Africa.
The Leprosy Mission will continue to reduce the number of new leprosy cases, working toward zero cases by 2035. TLM will further seek ways to understand and reduce leprosy transmission through its extensive research operations. They hope to learn more about giving an early diagnosis, monitoring relapse, and anti-microbial resistance. The Leprosy Mission will also use new technology to support primary and secondary healthcare workers. TLM partners with governments and other leprosy NGOs to conduct active case findings, implement contact tracing alongside the distribution of a post-exposure prophylactic, and raise awareness within targeted communities.