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Myanmar remains one of a handful of countries to be detecting thousands of new leprosy cases a year. Most of these cases involve patients from rural villages who simply are unfamiliar with the symptoms. They have minimal access to local health clinics which causes unfortunate delays in treatment.

Since 2014, Love for Myanmar has partnered with The Christian Leprosy Hospital in Mawlamyine, capital of the Mon State. As a 100-bed facility with a 60-member staff, the Mawlamyine leprosy hospital is one of only two leprosy hospitals in Myanmar. These hospitals serve an estimated population of 55 million people over a country roughly the size of Texas.

Love for Myanmar provides a Chaplain who ministers to the spiritual needs of the patients. She also is a source of encouragement to the hospital staff and families of the leprosy patients in a nearby “leprosy” village. Cruelly forced by prejudice and hostility from their home villages and disowned by their families, these people gradually came together to forge their own community.

Love for Myanmar has started a tutoring program mainly for the children in the leprosy village to fill in the learning gaps left by a broken public education system.