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International Federation of Anti Leprosy Associations

The Leprosy Mission

In 1874, Mr. Wellesley Cosby Bailey, an Irish school teacher was moved with compassion when he saw the plight of people with Leprosy living at Ambala, Punjab where he used to work. He determined to help these people and on his trip back home to the UK, he presented the need of the people affected leprosy to like minded people with whose support ‘The Mission to the Lepers’ (now The Leprosy Mission) was established. The Leprosy Mission is presently a leading organization in the world offering a wide range of services focusing on Leprosy care, reconstructive surgery, ophthalmic care, prevention of deformity, research, training, general health care, awareness program, vocational education and technical support to government health department on leprosy care.

TLM Hospitals – Affordable Health Care

TLM India has 18 own hospitals at Almora, Barabanki, Belgaum, Champa, Chandkhuri, Dayapuram, Faizabad, Kolkata, Kothara, Miraj, Muzaffarpur, Naini, Poladpur, Purulia, Ramachandrapuram, Saldoha, Salur, Shahadra and Vadathorasalur. The total bed strength of these hospitals is 1,170. Many new leprosy patients were referred to the nearest Primary Health center (PHC) for Multi Drug Therapy. Disability assessments were made at each hospital and disability prevention activity was undertaken through training the patients and caregivers in self-care/ulcer care. Various complications in leprosy are treated. Over 1,200 reconstructive surgeries are performed every year. Six of these hospitals located at Faizabad, Naini, Shahdara, Kothara, Dayapuram and Vadathorasalur were up graded into community hospitals, to offer a wide range of general health care delivery, apart from leprosy care.

Community Opthalmic program—Restoration of Vision:

Regular eye examination has been incorporated as part of the medical evaluation for all newly registered patients as well as those at high risk for eye complications. Every year nearly 4000 cataract surgeries are performed in the TLM hospitals. Six of TLM hospitals (Kothara, Shahadra, Purulia, Kolkata, Salur and Naini) have ophthalmologists and they have been working to help restore vision. This is essentially primary eye care which is promotive and preventive. Population surveys for eye diseases and school screening for refractive errors with health education to increase awareness of eye health are some of the activities carried out. Persons requiring treatment or surgery are brought to the hospital through these community programmes. Training of health personnel and community volunteers for community eye care is also undertaken at the base hospitals.

Vocational Training Centres – Harbingers of hope:

TLM also has 6 Vocational Training Centres, located at Bankura, Champa, Faizabad, Nashik, Vizianagaram and Vadathorasalur where formal and non-formal, job-oriented courses are offered in addition to production cum sale concept. The VTCs are beacons of hope to hundreds of young boys and girls, who have no affordable means of vocational education and development in life. A total of 694 boys and 296 girls were trained in 2004 in various courses. Through career guidance and placement assistance, hundreds were placed in medium and small scale industries.

Community-based projects – Participatory Stake-holding:

TLM India has over 20 time-bound community based projects focusing on Community based rehabilitation, health awareness, advocacy and technical assistance to government health centers. An indicative list of projects are: Advocacy and Awareness Works, Community Awareness on Disability and Impairment Prevention, Disability and Awareness programme, Community’s Catching Up project, Community Development Project, Women’s empowerment project, Economic Empowerment of Artisans with Disabilities, Community Health Care project, Integrated Disability Care and Community based rehabilitation project. In 2004, 450 new patients and their families were rehabilitated through hospitals, and VTCs under CBR programme. More than 750 new students were helped under ‘Catch Them Young’ programme. About 150 houses were built under ‘Low Cost Housing’ scheme. In addition, there are 4 Snehalayas (Mercy Homes for those abandoned by their family years ago), field research programmes, training programmes and 50 partner agencies across the country. The projects are totally community based, participatory with local stakeholders and innovative in approach.

Diana Princess of Wales Health Education and Media Centre – Media with a message:

Diana Princess of Wales Health Education centre at Noida has state-of-the-art facility for audio-visual, print and web media programming. The Media Centre generates worthy information education communication (IEC) materials utilized by NGOs, educational institutions and the government.

Research activities – Expanding Horizons:

The Stanley Brown Laboratory at Miraj, Maharashtra is involved in laboratory-based research. The lab has undertaken projects associated with nerve function impairment in leprosy, early diagnosis and looking for HIV relationship to leprosy. The laboratory based research is being complimented by field based operational research, few multi centric clinical studies are underway and it is believed that these research projects will lead to better advances for treatment of leprosy complications. TLM has a Research Resource Centre at Delhi, coordinates the research projects in TLM.

District Technical Support Teams – Augmentation of Government Leprosy care:

29 District Technical Support Teams are operational in 10 states such as Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. The teams cover 49 districts providing technical assistance to government health care staff in carrying out leprosy care. Under Urban Leprosy program, two similar teams are deployed in Tamil Nadu to cover 6 municipalities such as Villupuram, Punroti, Virudhachalam, Sivagangai, Karaikudi and Devakottai.