Historical background

Lupus, the disease with a thousand faces, was unheard of in Mauritius before the first press article on Dalilah Kalla, who came out public with her suffering, traumatic experiences and her agony at the very young age of 15 in July 1999.The idea of setting up an NGO in Mauritius to support Lupus patients was initiated by Babs Venkatasamy after a private visit to the UK to meet Brian Hanner, former Director of Lupus Support in the UK, medical specialists and representatives of Lupus support groups around the UK. Lupus Alert was launched in January 2000 as a non-profit, charitable organisation, which has since endeavoured to make the Mauritian public conscious of a disease for which no cure is available.

Mission and Objectives

• To give support to our diagnosed members and provide information to those seeking diagnosis.
• To increase public awareness about Lupus and its impact on sufferers and their families.
• To improve communication among patients, physicians and healthcare providers.
• To raise funds for the furtherance of the objectives of the association.