who we are
about
"I salute the unwavering dedication and commitment of the The Leprosy Mission. You are a wonderful example of a caring spirit and what can be done when people pool their energy and ideas to make life more humanly decent for others. Through your efforts you have assisted many sufferers to live full, independent and satisfying lives."
Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, Patron, The Leprosy Mission Ireland
From humble beginnings in Dublin has grown the world’s leading anti-leprosy agency. Now operating in over 30 field countries and serving a population of over 285 million people, The Leprosy Mission International has become globally recognised as a world leader in leprosy care, cure, rehabilitation and prevention.
The Leprosy Mission Ireland is the oldest branch of The Leprosy Mission International: an international interdenominational Christian organisation with over 135 years experience in leprosy work. Christian compassion has always been at the heart of our work, but The Leprosy Mission brings care and cure to leprosy sufferers, their families and communities irrespective of a sufferer’s religion, race or gender. Participants are not compelled to adopt our Christian beliefs or worldview.
Every two minutes of every day, a man, woman or child in the developing world learns that he or she has leprosy: the oldest and most cruel disease known to mankind. That’s over half a million new cases of leprosy every year. Since 1874 The Leprosy Mission Ireland (TLM) has been bringing care and cure to people with leprosy.
With our experience and track record in leprosy care, control and prevention, we remain focused on our commitment to see leprosy, the world’s oldest known communicable disease, completely eradicated. Leprosy is a disease of poverty. Therefore, in our efforts to eradicate leprosy, we play a unique role in the campaign to eradicate global poverty. The skills and competencies we have acquired and developed over our 135 year history equip us uniquely for this task and establish us as an effective international development agency. That’s why, today, we can apply our expertise across a range of other diseases and developmental issues beyond leprosy: all targeted at reducing poverty, oppression, marginalization and injustice. There are few agencies as well equipped to play a meaningful and sustainable role in the attainment of all of the Millennium Development Goals.
Of course, many communities in the developing world face extraordinary challenges. Natural disasters challenge fragile communities: threatening survival. TLM Ireland and its partners work closely with communities to ensure emergency preparedness and emergency relief plans are in place. If a disaster should strike we have built key strategic partnerships to ensure that essential medicines and equipment reach places of need without delay.
Partnership is at the heart of TLM’s work. In our overseas development work we partner with national governments, local communities, international agencies and other non governmental agencies… and of course, most importantly with men, women and children affected by leprosy, disease and poverty. Our work is resourced by individuals, businesses, schools and churches who generously donate their finances and time. TLM Ireland is particularly grateful to Irish Aid at the Department of Foreign Affairs for its partnership in a number of key, strategic programmes.
call to action
TLM Ireland cannot carry out its life changing work without your help.
We rely heavily of the generosity of individuals who volunteer both at home and overseas. We also rely heavily on business, churches, and other organisations to supply the financial resources that we need.
Much of our funding is provided by personal gift and by the generosity of individuals who leave legacies to the work of TLM. Increasingly, gifts in kind play an important role in our work.
In joining with us to effect real change you might want to donate your valuable time, a skill, a financial gift or a legacy. You might want to pray for the work. To get involved in these ways please either call TLM on 1890 50 51 52 or email us at info@leprosymission.ie . To donate funds to TLM online please click on the red button below.
