Priorities

Today ALM supports treatment, prevention and management of disabilities, and socio-economic-spiritual assistance to people affected by leprosy and Buruli ulcer in 14 endemic countries. Its mission is "To serve as a channel of Christ's love to persons affected by leprosy and related conditions, helping them to be healed in body and spirit and restored to lives of dignity and hope." ALM's financial and technical assistance is provided through government and non-government project partners and related specialized agencies that, working together, can provide a holistic, empowering strategy to restoring people affected by leprosy and Buruli ulcer to fullness of life.

History

In 1906, the United Kingdom's Mission to Lepers in India (later known as The Leprosy Mission) sent Mr Wellesley Bailey to the United States to form an American Committee. Mr William Danner became associated with the American Committee in 1910. He was appointed as its first full-time secretary in 1911, serving for 26 years. On 25 September 1917, the American Committee became an autonomous body - the American Mission to Lepers. In 1950, the board of directors changed the agency's title to American Leprosy Missions (ALM) and officially classified it as a tax-free charitable foundation, operating as a Christian medical mission. In ALM's early years, Mr Danner established the Gillis W Long Hansen's Disease Centre in Carville, Louisiana, as a division of the United States Public Health Service. Three training centres, the Schieffelin Centre in Karigiri, India, ALERT in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, and the Hospital Lauro de Souza Lima in Bauru, Brazil, were also later co-established by ALM. ALM was elected as a member of ILEP in 1975.