Ensuring a Healthy Future by Supporting the Fight Against NTDs – Global Issues
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HOVE, United Kingdom, Aug 14 (IPS) – The outgoing Executive Director of Uniting to Combat NTDs looks back on ten years leading the global advocacy organization dedicated to ending neglected diseases (NTDs). Over the past decade, I have had the privilege of witnessing incredible progress in the fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) – a journey marked by unwavering commitment, resilience, and hope.
This group of twenty-one diseases affects 1.65 billion people worldwide and can disable, injure, and kill. But despite major global obstacles, including the COVID-19 pandemic, supply disruptions due to the conflict in Russia and Ukraine, and severe weather conditions, our collective efforts to combat NTDs have transformed the lives of millions.
As I step down from my role as Senior Director of Coordination to Fight NTDs, I am filled with a sense of pride and reflection. From the inclusion of NTDs in the health-related Sustainable Development Goals to the endorsement by Heads of State of the Continental Framework on NTDs and the Common Africa Position, key global and regional frameworks are now in place to guide collective actions and efforts.
From world leaders endorsing the landmark Kigali Declaration on NTDs on the sidelines of the 26th CHOGM Summit in 2022 to the Reaching the Last Mile Forum held at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2023, we have seen countries standing shoulder to shoulder with sponsors, companies, organizations. and civil society organizations to pledge their commitment to end NTDs.
These concrete actions have lit the way to a future where NTDs no longer wreak havoc on the lives of vulnerable communities around the world.
The impact we have seen is real and profound. Fifty-one countries have now eliminated at least one NTD.
For example, sleeping sickness has been eliminated as a public health problem in seven countries, and Chad is the latest to achieve this milestone this year. Lymphatic filariasis has been eliminated in nineteen countries, with the Lao People’s Democratic Republic becoming the latest to eliminate the disease as a public health threat by 2023. And progress has backfired, as some countries eradicate many NTDs.
By 2022, Togo became the first country in the world to eliminate four NTDs (guinea worm, lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, and sleeping sickness) while Benin and Ghana eliminated three NTDs each, leading to the recognition at the ECOWAS Heads of State Conference in 2013. .
Meanwhile, 843 million people received NTD treatment in 2022 alone, funded by the most successful public private partnership in the history of global health, with more than 17 billion NTD treatments provided by the pharmaceutical industry between 2012 and 2023.
These achievements are built on years of shared experience in NTD prevention, control, and eradication efforts.
The human impact of this work is the most important measure of our success. When I think about this trip, I remember the faces of many people whose lives have been touched by this project.
Children who are able to go to school, families who are able to work and thrive, communities that are no longer bound by preventable diseases. These revolutionary stories are the heartbeat of our work and the fuel that drives us forward.
However, as we celebrate these remarkable events, we must also look at the important steps needed to ensure that this progress continues. We stand at an important moment, when the gains we have made must be consolidated and extended.
To do so, NTD programs are in dire need of sustained, long-term funding and strengthened political commitment. Another important way to respond to this need is to prioritize disease eradication as a priority to replenish the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA21), which provides grants and financing to the world’s poorest countries.
This includes establishing dedicated funding under the IDA21 health track. Doing so will ensure sustainable progress against these diseases and will help the World Bank fulfill its mission to eradicate poverty, increase economic growth, and improve the living conditions of millions of people around the world.
With only 15% of the Sustainable Development Goals on track, the urgency to demonstrate impact at scale has never been greater.
Supporting countries on the path to eliminating NTDs by 2030 and helping an additional 49 countries to reach the elimination goals will be a smart investment for IDA21, delivering tangible and far-reaching impact. This is not just a health obligation; it is moral and economic.
Our journey is far from over. The path ahead requires continued political will, continued pooling of resources, and unwavering commitment.
We have the knowledge, the tools, and the drive. Now is the time to use these and move forward with renewed energy. Let it be said, decades from now, we have not wavered in our fight. Let it be said that we left the world a healthy place, free from the scourge of neglected tropical diseases.
Thoko Elphick-Pooley is the outgoing Executive Director of Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases.
© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
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