End the Neglect

A blog of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases

Archive for the ‘NTDs’ category

Painting auction raises funds to fight NTDs in Timor-Leste

May 22nd, 2013

By Anupama Tantri

Earlier this year, we shared good news from Timor-Leste. During a workshop in February, Timor-Leste renewed its commitment to control and eliminate NTDs. With the support of all levels of government, from the Ministry of Health to the Prime Minister’s office, and with partners such as AusAID, the University of Sydney, and the Rotary Club of Sydney, this commitment is translating into action.

Despite rapid economic improvements in the country since independence, almost 30 percent of children are infected with intestinal worms and approximately 17 percent of the total population is infected with lymphatic filariasis. These and other NTDs can be severely debilitating, contributing to school absenteeism and reduced productivity. NTDs disproportionately affect the very poor and trap families in a cycle of poverty.

Earlier efforts to control NTDs in Timor-Leste from 2005 to 2008 proved effective, but before these programs could achieve their goals, they were stalled due to a lack of funding.

One unique example of how the government and these partners are coming together to mobilize resources for NTD control and elimination comes to life in the story of a painting by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão.

Prime Minister Gusmão completed the painting in 1994 while being held as a political prisoner in Jakarta, Indonesia. The painting was smuggled out of the prison and sent to former President and Nobel Laureate Dr. José Ramos-Horta, who was in exile in Portugal at the time, as a birthday present. In October 2012, Dr. Ramos-Horta donated this painting for auction in order to raise funds for NTD control and elimination in Timor-Leste.

The Isin-Di’ak Fund, a charitable fund established by the University of Sydney, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Sydney is raising money to return the painting to Timor-Leste to be kept on permanent display in the National Resistance Museum in Dili. The aim is to raise $300,000 for the national NTD control program by June 30, 2013. The person who donates the most during this fundraiser will receive a print of the painting signed by Prime Minister Gusmão. To learn more visit: http://www.sydneyrotary.com/presidents-projects/.

No comments »

Posted in Asia, NTDs

A Minute with an NTD Expert: David Addiss, Director, Children Without Worms

May 20th, 2013

At the recent “Uniting to Combat NTDs: Translating the London Declaration into Action,” we had a chance to catch up with David Addiss, the director of Children Without Worms (CWW). CWW is a partnership between Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, and the Task Force for Global Health to support the treatment and prevention of infection with soil-transmitted helminths (STH), commonly known as intestinal worms.

Global Network: What is the Task Force for Global Health and how does it address NTDs?

David Addis: The Task Force for Global Health is a non-profit organization […] that was founded […] to help bring groups together to focus on neglected [tropical] diseases. It started out with vaccinations and then it was the home for the Mectizan Donation Program. Now it houses several drug donation programs and has other public health programs that focus on global diseases. The Children Without Worms is one of those drug donation programs and we facilitate the donation of drugs for intestinal worms from two major pharmaceutical companies – Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline.

Global Network: What are the impacts of NTDs?

DA: There’s a variety of reasons to care for […] NTDs. They have huge economic and developmental consequences. If we’re interested in health equity [and] in global security, it’s important that we address these problems.

As human beings, we care about the suffering of others. We are programmed neurologically to recognize and respond to suffering. And the suffering that is caused by neglected tropical diseases is immense. It may not be right in front of us, we may not see it every day as we live in the cities of the north and in developed countries, but we know that it’s there. To not do something about it goes against who we are as human beings.

Global Network: How do you measure the success of achieving a goal related to NTDs?

DA: Success looks a little bit different from one disease to the other since the NTDs are a group of different diseases. For some diseases such as onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis, it means global elimination, such that these diseases will be gone from the face of the earth. For other diseases it means elimination as a public health problem – where we’re bringing the levels of infection down to where there’s no disease, no significant morbidity.

For soil-transmitted helminths, […] success as we envision it now is the absence of any morbidity. So we have to bring transmission levels down to a certain level. We have to improve hygiene, sanitation, water supply, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that there won’t be some infections, but that these will be easily treated within the routine health services.

So it ranges from elimination to very, very tight control, and essentially eliminating them as a public health problem.

No comments »

Posted in NTDs

The Worm in Your Water

May 15th, 2013

By Dr. Neeraj Mistry, Managing Director of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases

This post is part of a series created in partnership by WASH Advocates and Women Deliver. For more information, please contact Cecilia Snyder csnyder@WASHadvocates.org and Janna Oberdorf joberdorf@womendeliver.org

To remind ourselves why it is so vitally important to make improvements to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), all we need to do is take a look at what’s in the dirty water. Lurking in infested water sources are parasitic worms that cause diseases such as human hookworm and schistosomiasis. These infections spread easily in communities that don’t have access to clean water or sanitation facilities.

Hookworm, schistosomiasis and other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) infect more than 1 billion people around the world.

For women and children, NTDs are especially concerning. They are more likely to come into contact with NTDs while doing basic chores, like laundry or collecting water, bathing, or even just playing outside.

The effects of constant infection and re-infection can be devastating. For the estimated 40 million women of reproductive age infected with hookworm, the infection can cause serious health risks during pregnancy, including anemia. During childbirth, these women have a higher likelihood of experiencing complications and even death. Approximately 19 million girls and women are infected with a strain of schistosomiasis that makes them three to four times more likely to contract HIV.

That’s not all. Several NTDs can cause malnutrition and stunt a child’s physical growth throughout their childhood. They can also reduce a child’s ability to attend and perform well in school.

Luckily, the effects of these diseases can be controlled with simple medical interventions – most of which are donated by pharmaceutical companies; but, WASH improvements are what will make these treatment programs sustainable over the long term.

If we want to markedly improve maternal and child health and allow girls to learn and grow to their fullest potential, we must address NTDs. WASH improvements can help control and protect people from many NTDs. By combining these improvements with regular treatment programs, we can see the end of these diseases as early as the end of this decade.

No comments »

Posted in NTDs, WASH

Healthy kids, happy moms – Presenting our newest video!

May 13th, 2013

Mothers around the world face many challenges as they do their best to raise healthy, smart children and protect them from harm.

For some mothers, NTDs add to their challenges. In many countries, one common parasite found in the dirt threatens nearly 700 million people, including 44 million pregnant mothers. We’ve got a new, light-hearted video that sheds light on this issue and the great solutions that are already available to help moms and kids around the world.

It takes years of care, love and labor to raise a child. And for only 50 cents a year per person, we can provide at least one way to ensure healthier pregnancies for millions of moms and a better start in life for millions of kids.

Please share the video to help raise awareness and inspire action so that mothers can give their children the best gift of all – health.