Monthly Archives: December 2013

An END7 Year in Review

END7, NTDs, ,

 

The year 2013 was full of accomplishments in the fight to end neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Last week, we highlighted seven major accomplishments from the END7 campaign and the rest of the NTD community. We couldn’t have done it all without your help! Here’s to another year of providing even more opportunities for health to millions of people in 2014.

7 Days of END7 - Shocker

After it’s launch on February 25th, our “” video gained 485,000 views and introduced hundreds of thousands of new people to NTDs!

7 Days of Christmas - Honduras

This June, 1,051,659 Honduran children in 11,576 public schools will remain free from harmful parasitic worms in 2014 thanks to your support!

7 Days of END7 - Colombia

This July, Colombia became the first country in the Americas to eliminate river blindness! Read the The Carter Center’s press release to see how Colombia and global partners made it happen.

7 Days of Christmas - Kenya

This July, you helped END7 treat an entire community of people in Kenya. You made a difference in the lives of Neema, Fatuma and the rest of their family. Watch their story here.

7 Days of END7 - Ban Ki Moon

During 2013, we saw a lot of political action on NTDs! Thanks to you, the  responded to our call to recognize NTDs with this letter: http://bit.ly/1iJQSG8

On the country level, more than 60 countries now have national plans to defeat NTDs. Check out the recent launch of Uganda’s national plan here.

7 Days of END7 - Myanmar

This September, you helped provide millions of children in Myanmar with NTD treatment. See the impact you made.

7 Days of END7 - Year of Progress

We made huge progress this year with your help and we cannot thank you enough! Watch our video to see how far we’ve come.

 

Experts Weigh In On Successes, Challenges with Tackling NTDs

NTDs,

 

Microscope

Photo by Esther Havens

 

Sabin Vaccine Institute president Dr. Peter Hotez and many of our neglected tropical disease (NTD) partners contributed to a comprehensive report in Infectious Disease News on efforts to control and eliminate NTDs by 2020.

“NTDs require more recognition, resources to be controlled,” by Emily Shafer, details the activities currently underway and provides a frank assessment of the challenges we must overcome. Experts remarked on a number of priorities, including: carrying out advocacy, conducting mass drug administration, encouraging greater investments from current and potential donor governments, integrating NTDs in existing development interventions and building up endemic countries’ infrastructure to deliver treatments.

Here are some of the highlights:

On donor government funding:

“According to [Dr. Peter] Hotez, with the exception of the U.S. and British governments, there has not been widespread funding provided by other G-20 countries for NTD control or elimination. However, this may change in the coming years, and now some G-20 countries are supporting research and development efforts for NTDs.”

On the importance of strengthening capacity:

“We need to take advantage of the large donations to distribute free and safe medications to distribute to the poorest of the poor. … We need to develop the infrastructure to deliver the medicine, along with health education and community engagement, so that everyone is on board with the process.” – Dr. Frank O. Richards, director of the River Blindness, Lymphatic Filariasis, Schistosomiasis and Malaria Programs at the Carter Center

On NTD integration:

“Bed nets don’t only prevent malaria, they will also help eliminate lymphatic filariasis. We’re trying to get people to take a more holistic view of the way health care interventions are delivered to local communities.” – Dr. James Kazura, director of the Center for Global Health and Diseases and professor of international health, medicine and pathology at Case Western Reserve University

On our end goal:

“If the drug donations continue and we continue reaching out to people and delivering treatments, then the net results will be that the diseases disappear.” – Dr. Alan Fenwick, professor of tropical parasitology at Imperial College London

For the full article, click here.

How You Contributed to the Movement against NTDs in 2013 – and How We Can Do Even More

Africa, Asia, de-worming, elephantiasis, END7, Global Development, Global Health, grassroots, Latin America and the Caribbean, parasites, post 2015,

 

As 2013 comes to a close, we have reason to celebrate. END7 supporters helped treat entire communities of people suffering from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in Honduras, Myanmar, and Kenya, and our partners have completed treatment programs for millions of people in other countries. We’re making progress in the fight against NTDs.

The hundreds of thousands of children, mothers, families and communities who benefit from NTD treatment motivate us to continue the fight; mothers like Alice who pray every day for the health of their families, and sisters like Neema who want to be healthy and free of parasites so they can play and learn with their siblings.

Watch our new video to see the people who are benefitting from our work. We want to say thank you for making a difference in their lives.

The effort to end NTDs includes a diverse group of global partners, including the World Health Organization (WHO), national governments, pharmaceutical companies, corporations and individuals. Just this year, world leaders took notice and stood up for the 1.4 billion people suffering from NTDs.  The World Health Assembly, the African Union and the Organization of America States all made commitments to end NTDs. Governments across the world made national plans to end NTDs within their own countries — and when so many END7 supporters spoke out on behalf of those suffering from  NTDs, the United Nations responded with a letter stating that the fight against NTDs is “paramount to the global efforts to eradicate poverty.”

We’ve come a long way, but we can do even more in 2014 with your help. We’re ready to expand our efforts next year and reach even more communities in more countries. Your donations help deliver medicine to hard to reach places, train healthcare workers to administer treatment, educate people about NTDs, prepare for annual pill distributions and help communities take ownership of their own treatment programs.

If we want to improve the health of the most marginalized communities, enhance economic performance and contribute to broader development goals, we need to press on in the fight against NTDs. Will you stand with us? Donate, or start your own campaign to amplify our efforts and improve the lives of those who need it most.

Thanks for Helping Us Reach More Than 1 Million School Children in Honduras!

de-worming, END7, Latin America and the Caribbean, , ,

 

Honduran Children

Photo by Olivier Asselin

 

By Dr. Mirta Roses Periago, NTD Special Envoy 

This August, the END7 campaign asked for your help in treating more than 1 million school children in Honduras for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) – and I’m a happy to share that the joint effort was a success! Your donations helped ensure that 1,051,659 children in 11,576 public schools remain free from harmful parasitic worms for an entire year. On behalf of these children, their families and communities, I stand with END7 in saying thank you – ¡Muchas gracias!

You helped support Honduras’ national deworming campaign for school-aged children, which spanned throughout 18 states and 298 municipalities within the country. A strong collaboration led by the Ministry of Health of Honduras, with support from the Ministry of Education, the Healthy Schools Program, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Food Programme (WFP), Operation Blessing, MAMA Project and the END7 Campaign drove the campaign forward.

The campaign reached 88.6% of the children targeted for treatment (524,472 girls and 528,736 boys). And this effort was about more than just pill distribution. The Ministry of Health equipped health workers, volunteers, school personnel and partners with the knowledge, tools and training they need to implement additional campaigns in the years to come – ensuring that children are continually protected from intestinal worms which sap their energy, keep them with anemia and malnutrition and impair their capacity to grow and learn, thus perpetuating a life in poverty.

Embodying the “train the trainer approach,” health personnel at the regional level trained elementary school teachers in 298 districts, who in turn, trained parents on measures to prevent the transmission of soil-transmitted helminths (STHs, or intestinal parasites), amplifying the protection of children throughout the country.

Because NTDs are spread by unsafe water sources and inadequate hygiene and sanitation, the deworming campaign promoted hygiene education among children by demonstrating proper hand washing techniques as a way to prevent future infections. And because some schools in the poorest areas didn’t have clean water, four water filters were installed in the municipalities of Marcovia and El Triunfo in Choluteca states, where 100,461 people will benefit from the equipment. The water filters will ensure the water drank by these school children is clean and free from parasitic worms.

Honduras is the first country in the Latin American and Caribbean region to launch a national plan addressing these diseases.  Since the launch of the plan in 2012, in addition to scaling up its national deworming campaign,  the Honduras Ministry of Health and its partners have developed eight department level operational plans and trained personnel from each department on NTD control-related activities.

This year, you helped END7 create a better future for more than a million school children in Honduras. But they’re not stopping there. With continued support from people like you, END7 is working to make sure these children continue to receive treatment year after year. Get involved in the movement by visiting www.end7.org. Together we can see the end.