Built on values of faith and love through service, the Center for Comprehensive Health Education, Mission ILAC, was founded in 1973. This nonprofit organization was originally established to deepen the awareness of some of the committed leaders to the international situation, who came mostly from North America. Its young Jesuit founders, Narciso Sánchez-Medio, S.J., and Ernesto Travieso, S.J., knew the needs of the Dominican Republic and the universal possibilities that work provides to solve these problems.
The center started its activities with medical professionals offering services during the summers in remote rural communities where no other governmental or private organization was reaching.
In 1986, through donations, the Center for Comprehensive Health Education was built outside of Santiago de los Caballeros. From there, projects continued to be channeled to those remote communities to meet their needs.
Today, Mission ILAC has formed and organized a network of community leaders called Cooperators of Health, composed of men and women from their own rural communities who promote their development as key agents, driving awareness that range from improvement of agricultural techniques to creating active groups for the social development of their communities.