News
Leprosy – a disease with a delayed action timebomb which handicaps and excludes
French volunteers fundraise for 62nd World Leprosy Day
Paris, 25 January 2015
World Leprosy Day – collecting on the streets of Paris
On the streets of French towns on this freezing January Sunday morning, young Order of Malta volunteers are collecting for leprosy sufferers – the 62nd World Leprosy Day. The disease hits children as well as adults; WHO registered over 200,000 new cases in 2013. The slow-growing bacteria can incubate from two to 20 years. It affects the skin, the nerves, the mucous membranes. If detected early, it can be treated with multidrug (MDT) therapy. But the debilitating disease is not yet eradicated. In many countries, local communities exclude leprosy victims.
The Order’s Association in France, which established the MALTALEP scientific and medical studies for research into the disease, runs programmes for the treatment and prevention of leprosy in 20 medical centres in 14 countries in Africa, Asia and South America.
The Order of Malta has cared for the victims of leprosy since its founding years in Jerusalem in the eleventh century.
Related News
Ten years of support for the homeless in central London
21 October 2023
Interview with Order of Malta Ambassador to Palestine Michèle Bowe
21 October 2023
World Day of the Order of Malta in Italy
16 October 2023
Statement on the current violence in the Holy Land
10 October 2023
YOU CAN HELP THE BRITISH
ASSOCIATION OF THE ORDER OF MALTA
ADVANCE ITS CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
BY MAKING AN ONLINE DONATION.
History
About
The mission of the Order of Malta is inspired by its tradition of ‘Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum', to assist the poor and the sick, and bear witness to the Christian faith.
The Sovereign Order of Malta is a sovereign subject of international law. The Order - which is based in Rome, in via Condotti - has its own Government, an independent magistracy, and bilateral diplomatic relations with 110 countries.
The Order of St John of Jerusalem is one of the oldest institutions of Western and Christian civilisation. Present in Palestine in around 1048, it is a lay religious Order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature.
Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta
Craigmyle House 13 Deodar Road, London SW15 2NP
Tel: +44(0)20 7286 1414 | info@orderofmalta.org.uk