Whether or not you regularly follow the Global Network’s End the Neglect blog, it is easy to imagine the difficulty in raising the awareness and resources necessary to put an end to the most common neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). With an already full agenda of competing priorities and a cloudy financial climate, policymakers often see NTDs as another bottomless global health issue. However, thanks to a simple, 50-cents-per-person solution, the World Health Organization’s goal to control and eliminate 10 NTDs by 2020 is very realistic, though far from effortless.
The good news is that headway is being made to reach this goal, especially thanks to the partners of the London Declaration on NTDs, who have joined together to move an incredible amount of donated medicine to the communities that need them most. But, as the chart to the left demonstrates, much more needs to be done over the next seven years in order to reach the scale necessary to achieve our goal. Now more than ever, new partners are needed to share the burden, in order to ensure sustainability and avoid donor fatigue.
To find the answers to this challenge, the Global Network traveled to Berlin last week to hold our “Development Agency Roundtable” on October 23, 2013. This meeting of key global players was convened at the heels of the World Health Summit 2013, with the goal of raising the profile of NTDs and fostering honest discussions about the challenges commonly faced in advancing integrated, cross-cutting or stand-alone NTD programs. Besides proximity to the World Health Summit, Berlin was especially relevant to the Roundtable because of it historic role as the birthplace of the modern NTD movement nearly 10 years ago.
In partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank, and with support from WHO, the Global Network was thrilled to bring together representatives from the U.S., UK, Japanese, German, Swiss, and Brazilian governments, as well as leading organizations and pharmaceutical companies such as the Inter-American Development Bank, German Foundation for World Population (DSW), University of Heidelberg, Global Health Strategies, Global Health Advocates France, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), Bayer, Merck Serono, Pfizer, and others to discuss NTDs.
The discussion, led by Neeraj Mistry, was lively and informative, and the outcomes were promising. Most significantly, there was broad consensus that NTDs are an important component of the poverty-reduction agenda and a critical aspect of solving the economic and social challenges faced by the bottom billion. Also, their inclusion in the post-2015 development agenda (as recommended in the final report of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Agenda) was strongly affirmed.
Beyond the basics, the Roundtable participants viewed presentations on how implementing partners have successfully integrated NTDs into their water and sanitation, maternal and child health, nutrition, and health system strengthening programs, which allows organizations to remain focused on existing priorities while simultaneously tackling NTDs. Because the negative impact of NTDs often hampers the full potential of other health and nutrition programs, program integration across sectors can increase overall effectiveness and efficiency.
Additionally, the participants discussed the various options that exist for donors to give resources to NTDs, ranging from direct, bilateral contributions to multilateral “basket” funds and expanded public-private partnerships that leverage many small contributions to achieve a large impact. In the coming weeks, the Global Network will publish an outcome document that will synthesize the discussion into specific options for donors and policymakers to consider in giving to NTDs.
After months of careful planning, it was a huge reward to see so many governments and organizations join us at the Development Agency Roundtable and share their thoughts on NTD control and elimination. Discussion, however, is just the first step. We are hopeful that the outcome document will help us continue the conversation and provide donors with insightful direction as they seek to join the fight against NTDs or enhance their on-going support.
For more information about the Roundtable meeting, feel free contact Neeraj or GN Policy Director, Michelle Brooks. Also, to view comments from WHO/AFRO about the event, please watch Dr. Luis Sambo’s statement .