As the 2011 World Health Summit approaches next week, the Global Network’s Managing Director Dr. Neeraj Mistry contributes another blogpost to the ONE Campaign Germany. Find the English version below:
By Dr. Neeraj Mistry, Managing Director, Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases
In my previous blog post, I identified neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) as some of the most common yet widely unrecognized diseases currently in the global health arena. NTDs have debilitating effects–impairing the health, economic development and education of the world’s poorest people, also known as the “bottom billion.” We call them neglected diseases because the 1.4 billion people who suffer from NTDs are often far from the houses and minds of people living in the developed world. It’s not all bad news, though. Not only are many of these diseases entirely treatable and preventable, but there have already been significant steps taken towards the control and elimination of NTDs.
Through the remarkable commitment of the United States, the United Kingdom and members of the G8, we have seen enormous gains in the treatment and prevention of NTDs around the world. The U.S. government’s commitment to eliminating NTDs has rapidly expanded in recent years. Through the establishment of USAID’s NTD program, the U.S. created a unique and extremely cost-effective public-private partnership that successfully facilitated the first large-scale efforts to integrate existing disease-specific treatment programs. Since its launch in 2006, the USAID NTD program, in partnership with the pharmaceutical industry, has expanded to countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas–improving the lives of more than 168 million people by delivering approximately 387 million NTD treatments, and training more than 200,000 community workers. Continue reading