December 6 1999

ARTICLE TOOLS

Find similar articles E-mail this page

The Leprosy Mission International (TLMI) has marked the 125th anniversary of its foundation by dedicating its latest venture in the fight against leprosy to the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

TLMI officials said that the princess had helped the organization "enormously" with her patronage.

The Diana Princess of Wales Health Education and Media Centerﾗentirely funded by a grant of 890,000 pounds sterling (US$1.43 million) from the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fundﾗwas opened November 28 at Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi.

"She [Princess Diana] would have been thrilled to see this health-education and media center bearing her name, dedicated to promoting awareness and to countering the stigma associated with leprosy," Christopher Spence, chairman of the memorial fund, said at the center's inauguration.

Spence reminded the TLMI delegates that the Princess of Wales had "cared very deeply about the campaign and the work [to eradicate] leprosy. She was well aware of the power of communication to spread awareness, to promote the end of stigma and marginalization of leprosy patients."

More than 150 members of TLMI's international general council, from 33 countries, attended celebrations in New Delhi marking the 125th anniversary. TLMI was founded in India in 1874 by an Irish teacher, Wellesley Cosby Bailey.

Now based in London, TLMI is a Christian action group with churches and individual Christians contributing 80 percent of its annual budget of US$13 million.

Thomas Townley Macan, Britain's deputy High Commissioner in India, said it was appropriate that the media education center should have been dedicated to Diana, a "supporter of the causes of the poor."

"She would surely be rejoicing that the fund created in her memory is ...