The following blog is a guest post from Will Secor of Northeastern University. Below, he provides a student reaction to last month’s Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases event in Paris.
On April 2nd, students from a number of colleges and majors at Northeastern University came together to view the live webcast of Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs): A Conversation on Progress. The expert panel discussing the progress and challenges of controlling NTDs consisted of:
- Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO)
- Jamie Cooper-Hohn, Chair of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation
- Dr. Tim Evans, World Bank Director of Health, Nutrition and Population
- Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Dr. Onésime Ndayishimiye, National Director of the NTD and Blindness Control Program, Ministry of Health, Burundi
- Chris Viehbacher, CEO of Sanofi
I have been learning about NTDs and the effort to control and eliminate many of these diseases this semester through my coursework. The collaboration between communities, governments, international organizations, pharmaceutical companies and other sectors are the key to making progress in the fight against NTDs. The gathering of these experts, representing many of these key sectors was a powerful thing to see. Many of the panelists spoke with a great sense of urgency and passion, and challenged others to continue and improve their devotion to the effort.
Dr. Chan spoke with force and showed no uncertainty in her commitment to fighting these diseases. She focused on the generosity of the pharmaceutical companies that have donated vast amount of drugs for preventive chemotherapy, but also told them flat-out that it is not enough – that we need more partners and new commitments to see this effort succeed. This kind of straightforwardness is essential to making sure commitments are carried through to completion. It was refreshing to see Dr. Chan speak so frankly and it really showed her dedication to the effort.
The panel spoke at some length on the progress of control and elimination efforts for NTDs, and also what needs to be done in order to fulfill the many goals that have been set. Although great strides have been made over the last few decades, much more needs to be done and the panel highlighted these gaps.
At Northeastern University, the END7 group has been rapidly growing and gaining attention on campus as we seek to contribute to the NTD elimination effort. The webcast showing was organized by Dr. Richard Wamai, the faculty advisor for END7 at Northeastern, and was open to anyone who wanted to learn more about NTDs and the progress of control and elimination efforts. Members from END7, students from several global health classes and others with an interest in NTDs came to see the webcast. There were about twenty students and a few professors present at the webcast. The END7 at Northeastern University group has also been part of a number of other events on campus to help increase awareness this semester, including a “tropical fun run” to kick off National Public Health Week in collaboration with Health Disparities Student Collaborative and an evening of trivia at a local pub that raised money for END7. We are excited to be part of the effort to see the end of NTDs with events like our webcast viewing and fundraisers.
To see the recording of the full webcast and more information on the fight against NTDs, please visit: http://unitingtocombatntds.org/event/2014-04-02/uniting-combat-ntds-conversation-progress