American Leprosy Missions is the oldest and largest Christian organization in the United States dedicated to breaking down barriers to health and restoring hope for people suffering from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) like leprosy. It currently supports projects, programs and partners in more than 25 countries across Africa, Asia and South America.
Since our founding in 1906, American Leprosy Missions has been accelerating the exploration and application of novel solutions to cure, care and end high-morbidity NTDs. From pioneering leprosy drug treatment using diasone in 1946, to developing special farm tools and equipment for anesthetic hands in the 1970s, to piloting multi-drug therapy for leprosy with the Philippines Department of Health in the 1980s, to launching research into the world’s first leprosy-specific vaccine in 2002, ALM has continually sought new ways to create sustainable, positive impact for people affected by high-morbidity NTDs.
We continue to believe that “business as usual” will not beat leprosy and other NTDs. These diseases affect more than one billion of the world’s poorest and most marginalized people and can lead to lifelong disabilities, increased poverty, profound suffering and isolation.
Therefore, we and our partners continue to develop and invest in approaches, systems, technologies and tools to reach the last mile and take us closer to a world free of these terrible diseases.
These include:
a new, low-cost, scalable approach to disease mapping for integrated case management, the AIM Initiative.
a ground-breaking collaborative venture, the Leprosy Research Initiative, to provide a much-needed boost to scientific research in the field of leprosy.
a new Buruli Ulcer Laboratory Network in West Africa with a shared data portal to ensure accurate diagnosis of the flesh-eating disease Buruli ulcer.
a valuable resource for analyzing drug resistance in leprosy, the HARP (Hansen's disease Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles) database.
Our innovations are both incremental, novel adaptations of existing ideas and disruptive new solutions. They are often inspired by or adapted from others. But they are always focused on people – on getting solutions to the people affected – because we believe every person matters.