By Kari Stoever, Managing Director, Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases

We’ll be celebrating our third birthday this week at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting (and speaking of which, stay tuned to this blog for a couple of really big birthday announcements at CGI this week). But as we celebrate our third birthday, I have to admit that sometimes it feels like we’re three going on thirty; at the risk of sounding immodest, our small, scrappy team—with the support of our founding collaborators—has done the work of an organization much older than its three years.

I have to constantly remind myself of the amazing growth and momentum that has taken place in the realm of NTDs in the last three years. While we are still a very long way from ending the neglect of these diseases, we’re finally on the radar; that’s no small feat given all that is on the world’s agenda. I can honestly say that support from global leaders is reaching a tipping point, and, remarkably, with increased investments, elimination of some of these diseases is within reach.

Sometimes we have to step back and remind ourselves how far we have come in such a short time. Just three years ago, I was sitting at my computer writing web copy for the launch of our first Global Network website, and today we are launching our ‘End the Neglect’ blog as the latest tool in our interactive second site. For the first year, we lacked the resources and human capital to manage the day to day operations of the initiative. Until February of 2009, the Global Network team consisted of no more than 4 full-time employees and a couple of committed interns. However, I’m reminded of the famous quote by Margaret Mead – “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

We certainly wouldn’t be where we are today without our founding collaborators – Earth Institute at Columbia University, Helen Keller International, International Trachoma Initiative, Schistosomiasis Control Initiative at Imperial College, Centre for NTDs at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the Task Force for Child Survival and Development — contributing time and resources. Together, we succeeded in getting NTDs on the international development agenda, generating speed on our way to ending the neglect. Their on-the-ground work, which has treated millions, has been the basis for the success stories on which our advocacy work is focused.

Thanks to our first major donor, Legatum in 2007, the incredible support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and numerous other committed philanthropists, the Global Network has more than $60 million in grants and serious pledges to support the increase of NTD control efforts globally over the next several years. Given that most people are still tongue-tied when confronted with diseases like lymphatic filariasis and schistosomiasis, $60 million is quite an achievement.

But we’re not slowing down. Given that our goal is to help mobilize $3 billion to help end the neglect of NTDs by 2020, we not only need to keep moving, but we need to quicken our pace. And that means recruiting strong and effective collaborators – in both the public and private sectors – to get us to our goal. We are thrilled that President Obama has come out in strong support of NTDs in the US Global Health Initiative. As a global leader, he has the power and will to bring along the G20 leaders to match the USG commitment. If successful in mobilizing new investments, we truly could see an end to the suffering and death from some of the NTDs within the next several years.

As I look ahead, I see a Global Network embracing growth and remaining flexible to succeed in a constantly changing environment. We recognize that there is a crowded world agenda – a global financial crisis, war, food insecurity, domestic healthcare reform and growing global health fatigue. So, I try my best to manage my impatience around what I know can be done with as little as 50 cents. It was William Easterly that said, “The rich-country public has to live with making poor people’s lives better in a few concrete ways that aid agencies can actually achieve.” Indeed, as I often say to donors and international leaders, with minimal effort, we can get free or low cost drugs to the poorest people and lift people out of poverty, but we need the political will. We need the commitment.

I know we’ll get there. We can, we will and we must succeed in combating NTDs as a means to reduce global poverty and empower the poorest to reach their full potential. As we blow out our three big birthday candles, that’s our birthday wish for the more than 1.4 billion people suffering from NTDs.

Kari Stoever joined Sabin in 2004 as the Program Manager for the Human Hookworm Vaccine Initiative and in 2006 transitioned to establish the Global Network. She led the development of the Global Network and has been instrumental in the success of this global initiative. Since joining Sabin she has secured more than US $86 million in grants and financial commitments. She has been active in the Clinton Global Initiative since its inception and has made key contacts with policy makers and opinion leaders in the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Africa. She is a board member on the Women’s Leadership Initiative at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. She holds a B.Sc. from George Washington University, a degree in nursing, and an Executive Masters in Leadership from the McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University.