Two years after the landmark London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases which set out the ambition to control and eliminate 10 NTDs by 2020, global leaders gathered in Paris yesterday to announce increasing momentum to fight the diseases that put one in six people worldwide at risk of being sickened, disabled or disfigured.
NTDs disproportionately affect the world's poorest and most vulnerable populations. Since the London Declaration which put the collective weight of 13 leading pharmaceutical companies, global health organizations, private foundations, and donor and endemic country governments behind a new push to reduce the global burden of NTDs—the partnership has made strong progress in ramping up efforts to reach the World Health Organization (WHO)'s goals to control or eliminate a number of these diseases by the end of the decade.
The gathering coincided with the release of a
new report highlighting gains over the past two years, including pharmaceutical companies meeting 100 percent of requests for drugs, and endemic countries taking ownership of NTD programmes.
"The tremendous progress we have seen over the past two years is proof of the power of partnerships and the generosity of companies that made commitments under the London Declaration," said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO, who spoke at the event. "Together with the governments of endemic countries, we are fast approaching the goal of controlling or eliminating many of these ancient causes of human misery. This is a pro-poor initiative that is improving the lives of more than a billion people."
Funding Announced for School-Based Deworming
The day's big announcement saw the commitment of a $120 million fund to combat soil-transmitted helminths. These intestinal worms are among the most common infections found among children living in poverty and they severely impact on child health, nutrition and learning abilities.
Jamie Cooper-Hohn, Chair of Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) announced that, "CIFF is now committing an additional US$50 million over the next five years to implement large-scale systematic approaches to deworming in a number of countries, with the hope that, ultimately, we can break the transmission of worms and achieve the vision of: every child, everywhere, free from worms forever."
Other organisations also announced their commitment to rid children of worms including:
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The World Bank - committing US$120 million toward the goal of NTD control and elimination in low-income countries in Africa, including funding for school-based deworming efforts.
- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - investing US$50 million to explore the feasibility of interrupting transmission and mitigating the risks of drug resistance, as well as the most effective cross-sector approaches.
- Dubai Cares - designing programmes that will integrate nutrition, WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) and deworming interventions in schools to increase student enrollment and learning outcomes.
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The Global Partnership for Education - collaborating with the World Bank to assist education sectors in developing countries to deliver donated deworming drugs to children.
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The World Food Programme working to ensure deworming is provided to millions of children as part of current school feeding programmes.
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