Monthly Archives: October 2013

Reaching Out “Across the Pond” to Advance the NTD Cause

NTDs, policy, U.S Government,

 

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Despite the government shutdown earlier this month, Global Network’s Managing Director Neeraj Mistry, Sabin Foundation Europe Board member and chair of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Malaria and NTDs Jeremy Lefroy MP, and Nigerien National Assembly Member Ibrahim Souleymane MP were invited to meet with Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) during their recent visit to the United States.   Sen. Wicker, who currently co-chairs the Senate Working Group on Malaria and NTDs (Working Group) with Sen. Christopher Coons (D-DE), has a long-track record of supporting global health issues and other foreign assistance programs.   Support from lawmakers like Sen. Wicker remains essential to ensuring that the U.S. Congress continues to fund and raise awareness for important global health initiatives like USAID’s NTD Program.

At the meeting, Mr. Lefroy and Sen. Wicker discussed their mutual work in fighting malaria and NTDs through legislative channels, and how they could possibly encourage their counterparts in parliamentary bodies around the world to advance the NTD cause.  Mr. Souleymane was grateful to provide an African perspective to the group and affirm the positive work underway in support of the Government of Niger’s health agenda.  In addition, Neeraj provided a succinct overview of the global NTD landscape, the role of the Global Network, and the on-going success of USAID’s NTD Program, which now operates in 24 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Mr. Lefroy was particularly interested in Sen. Wicker’s role as co-chair of the Working Group as he champions the U.S. government’s fight against malaria and NTDs on Capitol Hill.  The two also discussed the broader development needs in Africa and the Senator’s recent trip to Tanzania, where Mr. Lefroy lived previously with his family while he worked in the coffee industry.   Tanzania currently receives USAID funding for a comprehensive NTD program, implemented by RTI International, IMA Worldhealth, and the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control.

We hope that these great advocates for NTDs will be able to rally the support of more parliamentarians and lawmakers―within their own bodies and around the world―to support global efforts to control and eliminate the most common NTDs by 2020.

October Student of the Month: From NTD Advocate…to Patient

NTDs, Student Advocacy, , ,

 

Katy on her trip to Sierra Leone -- where she became infected with Hookworm.

Katy on her trip to Sierra Leone — where she became infected with Hookworm.

As END7 expands its outreach to students, we’d like to highlight a different young person every month who has joined our campaign. We are proud to share a reflection from our October Student of the Month, Katy Gorentz, who has been a student advocate for END7 since her freshman year at the University of Notre Dame. After three years of organizing advocacy and fundraising events to fight diseases she had never encountered, Katy experienced the impact of NTDs for herself last summer in Sierra Leone. Here’s her reflection on why she is part of END7:

“As a premed student at the University of Notre Dame, I have had many options for getting involved in health-related clubs. When I stumbled across the ND Fighting NTDs booth at the Activities Fair freshman year, I was impressed at the focus and passion of the students involved. I signed up that night and have been involved ever since!

Looking back I can now see the impact that getting involved in NTD advocacy has had on the course of my own education. Learning about this complex global issue has made me assess my own goals as a future doctor and gain new perspectives that challenge the simple ways in which I used to view health and medicine. END7 gives students the opportunity to learn about the challenges of global health, support one major solution we have at hand, and inspire others to action. It’s a cause that anyone can be passionate about, from a doctor, to an economist, to a young student looking for inspiration.

The impact of NTDs on my college career became much more personal when I experienced this issue from a different perspective this past summer: the patient’s point of view!

katy hookworm

Katy’s foot after she contracted hookworm.

While conducting research on disability in Sierra Leone, I contracted hookworm. I soon recognized the itchy red lines creeping across my feet and up my ankles from pictures of hookworm I had seen in ND Fighting NTDs factsheets and posters, but the series of nurses I encountered did not. It took me weeks to find a doctor who recognized my hookworm and gave me albendazole to treat it. Later, when chatting with a nurse from one of the clinics I visited, she confided that the clinic simply did not have the medication available and wanted to find some before diagnosing the tell-tale lines that were spreading rapidly before my eyes.

The experience drove home the facts about NTDs I had repeated for years: the diseases are so easy to contract, yet finding treatment can be far too difficult – but once you take it, the medication is fast-acting and effective. My experienced echoed the facts I had learned from END7, and made it all the more clear that mobilizing the political will and financing to get NTD medications where they need to be is incredibly important.

katy ndfntdsNow, having experienced an NTD firsthand, I am even more committed to the fight against NTDs! This past week, I have been participating in NTD Awareness Week at Notre Dame, ND Fighting NTDs’ annual campaign to raise NTD awareness on campus and get our peers involved in fundraising and educational events – here’s a picture from our popular Bagel & Brochure giveaway Tuesday morning. Now, with END7’s new personal fundraising pages, I can share my reason for supporting END7 with my friends and family online, too. I just created my own fundraising page, and I am excited for the opportunity to spread the word and involve even more people in the fight against NTDs!”

We are so thankful for the commitment that Katy and the other leaders of have made to this cause. If you are ready to get your school involved in END7’s work, contact student coordinator Emily on or at to learn how you can get started!

Can Data Sharing End the Suffering Caused by Neglected Tropical Diseases?

NTDs, treatment

 

Nearly one in six people worldwide needlessly suffer from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), yet a tremendous need for research and development of new products to treat and protect against these debilitating diseases still exists.  But a recently-launched crowd funding campaign led by Northeastern University’s Professor Michael Pollastri could pave the way for a novel data sharing platform aimed at accelerating new drug discovery for NTDs.

from on .

In just 60 days, Michael Pollastri hopes to raise $25,000 to develop a platform for researchers to share drug discovery data. This platform aims to reduce the duplication that often happens in drug discovery, so that much needed drugs can be developed faster and more efficiently delivered to the people who need them most.

As stated on Pollastri’s project website, “We know this platform will not only encourage sharing amongst leading researchers in the area of NTD drug discovery, but also more quickly bring drugs to market that could cure these infections.”

According to Pollastri, data sharing for NTDs can uncover new opportunities for collaboration — which can lead to new funding proposals. Additionally, Pollastri and the Laboratory for Neglected Disease Discovery aim to gain higher visibility for NTDs by regularly communicating the progress of the Open Source effort to key stakeholders in NTD drug discovery.

Now how exactly will the $25,000 be used? The money will cover the costs of the database development, provide seed funding for key laboratory experiments and will help get the word out through publications, social media and networking.

If all goes as planned, the platform will launch in December 2013 and the NTD community will have a new tool to help advance its important work.

For more information on the crowd funding campaign and to donate to the project, click here. And for more information on the proposed data sharing platform, click here.

Photo courtesy of Northeastern University. 

Cholera and Health Inequity in Latin America and the Caribbean discussed on Capitol Hill

Latin America and the Caribbean, NTDs, WASH, , ,

 

Photo by Olivier Asselin

Photo by Olivier Asselin

By Raquel Corona-Parra

Health issues in Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) were featured on Capitol Hill last week during two briefing sessions discussing the regional inequities in health and the cholera epidemic in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Tackling Health Inequity in Latin America

“Public Health in Latin America,” was hosted by Representative Sam Farr of California on Wednesday, October 23rd as part of an ongoing monthly briefing series called “Latin America on the Rise.” The series features a diverse group of speakers responsible for addressing emerging and emergent issues in the Western Hemisphere.

Dr. Carissa Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), said despite health achievements in the region, such as the elimination of polio and small pox and the recent WHO verification of onchocerciasis elimination in Colombia, the region remains characterized by significant health inequities.

“Despite the progress, the region is characterized by large differences in the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. This inequity among and within countries not only threatens the public’s health, it threatens human rights, economic prosperity, sustainable development, and stability throughout the region.”

Amanda Glassman, Director of Global Health Policy and Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, spoke primarily of the reasons behind the health inequities among and within LAC countries. She stressed that poor health and nutrition are a serious concern, especially considering that health is a main driver of growth and security. Innovative policies are in place to address these issues, such as conditional cash transfers and the Salud Mesoamerica 2015 Initiative (a collaboration between the Carlos Slim Health Institute, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Inter-American Development Bank). However, more needs to be done, and she called on the government of the United States to increase its involvement with these issues in a framework of cooperation.

Conquering Cholera in Haiti and the Dominican Republic

The event on Thursday October 24th, titled “Conquering Cholera in Haiti and the Dominican Republic: The Untold Story of Progress,” provided members of Congress, their staff and partners in health issues an update on the status of the control efforts of the cholera epidemic on the Island of Hispaniola.

The cholera outbreak in Haiti and the Dominican Republic began in late 2010 – just a few months after the catastrophic earthquake devastated Haiti. Prior to this outbreak, cholera had not been reported in Haiti for more than 100 years. Around 715,000 people have gotten sick from the disease and more than 8,000 deaths have been attributed to the epidemic – with cases spreading to Cuba and Mexico.

Dr. Carissa Etienne stressed that although the oral cholera vaccine has helped, improvements in water and sanitation are essential for the epidemic to be stopped.

The event was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Karen A. Goraleski, Executive Director of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Panelists included Dr. Katherine Bliss (Center for Strategic & International Studies), Dr. Rick Gelting (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), Dr. Ralph Ternier (Partners In Health) and Elynn Walter (WASH Advocates).

As a response to the epidemic, several initiatives and programs were formed to tackle disease surveillance, food safety and access to clean water and sanitation throughout the region. For example, the Regional Coalition for Water and Sanitation to Eliminate Cholera in the Island of Hispaniola was formed in January 2012. Additionally, both Haiti and the Dominican Republic have developed National Plans for the elimination of cholera within each country, with support from PAHO, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). DINEPA (National Directorate for Water Supply and Sanitation or Direction Nationale d’Eau Potable et d’Assainissement), along with multiple partners, is also working to improve the water and sanitation infrastructure in Haiti, where 69% of the population has access to an improved water source and only 17% had access to sanitation in 2010.

These improvements in the infrastructure will also help reduce and eliminate other infectious diseases such as lymphatic filariasis (LF). LF, or elephantiasis, is a debilitating disease that is spread by mosquitoes and causes extreme swelling of the extremities. A group of Global Network partners are making significant progress in LF control and elimination efforts in Haiti. The partnership includes the Haitian government, the CDC, CBM, IMA World Health, the University of Notre Dame and the Envision Project, managed by RTI International and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. We believe it is partnerships like these – which are focusing on controlling and eliminating pervasive diseases of poverty like LF and cholera – that are enabling entire communities to break the cycle of poverty and disease.