START is a relatively new charity founded with a clear purpose:
"to help women suffering from leprosy".

START was formed in August 2000 and is dedicated to supporting the efforts of Leah Pattison. Working in the slums of Nagpur, India, Leah and Usha Patil have treated and cared for women suffering from leprosy.

As well as being one of history's most dreaded diseases, the social stigma that goes with leprosy only makes matters worse. In an environment where women are usually treated as second class citizens, sufferers are forced to beg on the streets to survive.

Even though we are now living in the 21st century, leprosy continues to affect millions of people world-wide. We have already taken a big step forward in the fields of care, education and integration of sufferers' back in to their communities.

We now need and greatly value your support so we can help our patients improve their quality of life and bring back some self respect and confidence. We aim to do even more to build upon the results already achieved by START. The START charity survives purely through public donations - we do not yet have corporate sponsors to support our work. Neither do we receive any public or government funding.
 

START - Donating to our cause. You can make a donation today.
The invaluable work of START has already achieved would not be possible without the goodwill and generosity of people like you. Our ability to raise funds, and the survival of our efforts depend on the
financial support we receive from people like you.

We promise you that every single penny you contribute will go directly towards improving the quality of lives of thousands of women who need it most.

How your donation will be used