At last November’s “Uniting to Combat NTDs: Translating the London Declaration into Action,” we had a chance to catch up with Dr. Uche Amazigo, Retired Director of the African Programme for Onchocerciasis (APOC).  Amazigo is recognized for her work with African communities to overcome their health burden, particularly that caused by River Blindness, through community- based projects and empowerment.

 

Global Network: Why fight NTDs?

Dr. Uche Amazigo: The fight against NTD is really a fight that will free the world of poverty, free Africa of poverty. We do not have the magic to improve rural communities in Africa and turn them into high, good urban centers and improve the level of sanitation and everything.  But, if we treat the diseases, then we’ll be freeing them from a number of these neglected tropical diseases.  We can improve education, improve their quality of life, and also liberate them from some level of poverty.

GN: How does NTD control relate to the success of other development goals, like empowering women and improving education?

UA:The fight against the NTDs in the Africa region will have a tremendous, positive effect on the lives of women and girls […] that’s how the expansion of the onchocerciasis control in Africa began. It began with a small study on the social impact of River Blindness and skin disease, on adolescent girls, the marriage age of girls, and the duration of breast feeding […]

Before that study in 1991, very little was known about the social impact of River Blindness. It was all blindness, but when partners realized the huge consequences it has on adolescent girls and women, that laid the foundation, the scientific basis for launching the African Programme for Onchocerciasis (APOC). And you can see, the more we treat the neglected tropical diseases, the more Praziquantel we give, the more female children we will release to schools, the more we will improve education of girls. In a household like I have seen many times in Africa, if a mother has a boy and a girl and both are urinating blood, her tendency would be to treat the boy if she does not have enough funds for both of them, and the first person to drop out of school, in that circumstance, would be the girl.

So the more Praziquantel we have to liberate children from this deadly trap of schistosomiasis, the better for the Africa region. The more Ivermectin we distribute to make sure that River Blindness is eliminated for good, the more we will improve the conditions of women […] The fight against NTDs will be a very positive and very helpful thing for the African woman.

GN: What progress has been made since the London Declaration?

UA: The London Declaration means hope to me – hope for the poorest. Hope for the communities in African countries that are resource poor and do not have enough resources to take care of HIV/AIDS or neglected tropical diseases. With confirmation from the big donors and pharmaceutical companies to give these drugs in millions and for as long as is needed, they are now helping those countries leverage the funds and make sure that they improve their performance in distributing the drugs to treat many of the neglected tropical diseases. So the London Declaration is a milestone, and a very positive one.  I think it has now encouraged many countries in Africa to develop national plans to fight the neglected tropical diseases.

GN: From your perspective how do African governments work with the broader community to control and eliminate these diseases?

UA: The London Declaration has set the pace because it will help the national programs to get countries’ governments to accept this challenge. That’s the first step. The next thing that is required is advocacy by the partners, the civil society, the Gates Foundation, and the World Bank. They all need to advocate at country level through their own channels to governments to provide the resources – no matter how small the resources are.  Even if a government provides $100,000 or $50,000 to NTD control and elimination, it is a mark of commitment.  The commitment has to be regular, it has to be sustained, it has to be released – not only budgeted but released. So the challenge is how do we convince the partners to do more advocacy at country level so that governments will see NTDs as a priority.