SF - Spain
Fontilles Lucha contra la Lepra
Fontilles Lucha contra la Lepra
Plaza Tetuán 6 bajo
46003 Valencia
SPAIN
Tel: +34/96 351 15 83
Fax: +34/96 351 11 87
Chair of the Board | Mr Joaquín Sapena |
|---|---|
General Manager | Mr José-Manuel Amorós |
Scientific Adviser | Dr Montserrat Pérez |
History
SF was founded in 1902 by a lawyer Don Joaquín Ballester and a Jesuit priest, Father Carlos Ferris, in order to offer an improved quality of life and treatment to a great number of leprosy patients in the Alicante and Valencia region. A hospital, the SF Colony Sanatorium - San Francisco de Borja, on the border of the Alicante and Valencia provinces, was opened in 1909, with the aim of performing a triple function: medical treatment, research and teaching. Since then adjusting to new needs in the fight against leprosy has been a first priority. This includes running annual courses for doctors, nurses and personnel working on anti-leprosy projects, and producing the only scientific leprosy journal in Spanish - Revista de Leprología Fontilles. SF has also been supporting or running an increasing number of international projects. SF became a Member of ILEP in 1969.
Priorities
The first priority is still the fight against leprosy, wherever it still exists. The number of new cases registered in the Sanatorium is down to a minimum. Therefore, activity is shifting outwards, with a growing number of international projects. Other new priorities include the training of field workers at home and abroad and supporting national plans to eradicate leprosy in endemic countries and regions. Raising awareness of leprosy in Spanish society, early detection of new cases, physical rehabilitation of people with leprosy, and achieving the socio-economic integration of patients are permanently on the agenda of SF's work. Nowadays, the co-operation projects of SF include other neglected diseases and development projects in order to improve living conditions and prevent diseases.