Our Recipient Charities

Pacific Leprosy Foundation

The vision of the Pacific Leprosy Foundation is of a leprosy-free Pacific. The Foundation is working towards the eradication of the disease, particularly in Samoa, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands where there are five-year programmes in place to reduce the transmission of leprosy within households.

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease which affects the peripheral nerves and the skin, but does not affect the spinal cord or the brain. It is the most complex and the chronic of all human bacterial diseases. This disease continues to be a serious challenge in most developing countries, contributing significantly to the physical and social disability of the patients afflicted.

It remains a social and medical problem in the majority of Pacific countries. Leprosy is a disease of poverty, and families affected by leprosy find it extremely difficult to get themselves out of that poverty.

The donation from the Acorn Foundation enables the Pacific Leprosy Foundation to distribute much needed provisions to families affected by leprosy in the Pacific.