Tag Archives: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Bill and Melinda Gates Bet on the Elimination of Guinea Worm, Elephantiasis, Trachoma and Onchocerciasis

lymphatic filariasis, Onchocerciasis, Trachoma

 

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In their Annual Letter, Bill and Melinda Gates have one big bet: The lives of people in poor countries will improve faster in the next 15 years than at any other time in history. And their lives will improve more than anyone else’s.

Considering the tremendous progress made in the fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), we couldn’t agree more. By advocating for the control and elimination of NTDs, the international community is making big strides to improve the lives of the world’s poorest people.

Just last year, 800 million people were treated for NTDs, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s NTD Program successfully delivered its one billionth NTD treatment. Echoing this momentum, NTD treatment continues to be recognized as a key tool for cutting extreme poverty. For example, the G7 and BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) recently made commitments to accelerate progress toward the global fight against NTDs.

NTDs are the most common affliction of the world’s poorest people, contributing to debilitating blindness, disfiguration and a number of harmful outcomes including school absenteeism, malnutrition and poor maternal and child health. This group of parasitic and bacterial infections is notorious for perpetuating poverty and undermining broader global development efforts. In order to end poverty and improve the lives of the poor, we must prioritize the control and elimination of NTDs.

In their annual letter, Bill and Melinda Gates specifically call for the end of four NTDs: Guinea worm, elephantiasis, trachoma and onchocerciasis. They write:

“Destroying a disease utterly is a very difficult thing to do—so difficult, in fact, that it’s only happened once in history, when smallpox was eradicated in 1980. But if we keep working hard, we can eradicate four diseases by 2030. We can get polio out of Africa this year and out of every country in the world in the next several years. Guinea Worm, an incredibly painful disease whose sufferers spend months incapacitated while worms that can be several feet long burst out of their legs, will also be gone soon, thanks in large part to the leadership of President Carter and the Carter Center. We’ll also see the last of diseases like Elephantiasis, River Blindness, and Blinding Trachoma, which disable tens of millions of people in poor countries. The drugs that can stop these scourges are now being donated in huge numbers by pharmaceutical companies, and they’re being used more strategically thanks to advances in digital maps that show where diseases are most prevalent. Last year these free medicines were distributed to 800 million people.”

Bill and Melinda Gates’ important message injects new energy into the fight against NTDs. Their message is timely, following the recent appropriation by Congress of $100 million toward USAID’s NTD Program for FY 2015 and the launch of India’s ambitious campaign to treat more than 400 million people for elephantiasis, which if successful, could help India eliminate elephantiasis within the next few years and set a bold example for the world.

To read the full letter, click here. To read a statement from Dr. Neeraj Mistry, Managing Director of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, click here.

Global Network Releases a New Report on NTD Control and Elimination

Global Development, , ,

 

Today, the Global Network released a new report entitled “Ending Neglected Tropical Diseases: Opportunities to Support the Control and Elimination of NTDs.” This report offers an analysis of the progress made, challenges remaining and new opportunities in the global effort to control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by 2020. This report stems from discussions at the Development Agency Roundtable, which was held in Berlin, Germany last year and hosted together by the Global Network, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and World Bank Group.

With forward sections from our four NTD Special Envoys, incredible NTD success stories from Burundi, India, and Mexico, and recognition of the importance of addressing from leaders of global development organizations, the report is a powerful new advocacy tool to raise attention to NTDs. The report calls for national governments and other partners worldwide to:

  • Recognize the impact of NTDs as a key underlying constraint to global economic growth, poverty and inequality reduction, educational achievement and nutrition.
  • Institutionalize NTD control and elimination efforts in foreign policy, development and poverty reduction agendas.
  • Invest in and prioritize nationally-led integrated NTD plans by providing political support, reliable long-term financing and technical assistance.
  • Promote the fight against NTDs in international and regional forums and support the inclusion of NTD-specific goals and targets in the post-2015 development agenda.

We hope you enjoy the report, and feel free to share it with friends and colleagues.

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Sabin Celebrates 20 Years of Operations with a Star-Studded Event

Global Health, pharmaceuticals, , , ,

 

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This post originally appeared on the Sabin Vaccine Institute blog.

In celebration of twenty years since its founding, the Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) will bring together top leaders in the global health community for its 20th Anniversary Scientific Symposium on Friday, April 25 in Washington, DC.

The program will include an impressive lineup of speakers including Dr. Seth Berkley (GAVI Alliance); Dr. Margaret Chan (WHO); Dr. Mickey Chopra (UNICEF); Dr. Carissa Etienne (PAHO); Dr. Julio Frenk (Harvard University); Dr. Julie Gerberding (Merck Vaccines and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations); Dr. Lance Gordon (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation); and Dr. Mahendra Suhardono (Biofarma and the Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network).  On behalf of Sabin’s vaccine leadership, President Dr. Peter Hotez and Executive Vice President Dr. Ciro de Quadros will also make remarks at the event.

By bringing together a diverse group of scientists, advocates and global health experts, Sabin will foster a thought-provoking discussion about best practices, lessons learned and prospects for the future of global health.  With executive leadership from the NGO community, multilateral institutions, pharmaceutical industry, and academia, attendees will hear how stakeholders from various vantage points – from the NGO, private and public sectors – are uniquely positioned to address pressing global health challenges across the world.

This event is open to the public; to register, please visit the event registration page.

Global Health Giant Joins Fight to Eliminate Polio

Global Health, Vaccine Diplomacy, eradication, immunization, , smallpox, EteenaT

Shortly after Bill Gates’ “Polio and the Power of Vaccines” event—where Mr. Gates and a panel of experts including Sabin Executive Vice President Dr. Ciro de Quadros issued a renewed call to eliminate polio—one global health giant was quoted strongly opposing global polio elimination efforts.

As New York Times reporter Donald McNeil notes in this article published yesterday, “why does it matter what one particular expert thinks? Because, for better or worse, the mantle has been wrapped around the venerable 82-year-old Donald A. Henderson that he is “The Man Who Wiped Out Smallpox.”

Thankfully, Mr. McNeil’s article goes on to report how the esteemed Dr. Henderson has changed his opinion on the important matter of polio eradication. And the reason behind Dr. Henderson’s 180 is a conversation with Dr. de Quadros.

“The Man Who Found the Last Case of Smallpox in Ethiopia and Chased Polio and Measles Out of the Western Hemisphere,” aka Dr. de Quadros, was able to convince “The Man Who Wiped Out Smallpox” that Mr. Gates is committed to eradicating polio and that vaccine technology has advanced considerably, among other things.

Now, with Dr. Henderson on board, the global health community can forcefully move ahead with adding polio to the list of the diseases eliminated from humanity.

Read “Can Polio Be Eradicated? A Skeptic Now Thinks So.”