Tag Archives: UK Coalition Against Neglected Tropical Diseases

Parliamentary Launch for UKCNTD’s Annual NTD Report

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CaptureThis blog was originally posted by the UK Coalition against Neglected Tropical Diseases

Great strides have been made in the battle against Neglected Tropical Diseases but more needs to be done for the 1 in 5 people whose lives are still blighted by these diseases. This is one of the key messages of the 2014-2015 Report for the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (download http://bit.ly/1DcawHo ), launched at a special meeting in the UK Houses of Parliamentary on Tuesday 24th February.

The report outlines the advances that have been made over the last 12 months to control and eliminate diseases which affect 1.4 billion of the world’s poorest people through mortality, morbidity, disability and stigma.

NTDs are a key barrier to attainment of global development goals and poverty reduction.

Jeremy Lefroy MP, Chairman of the APPG, said:

“Ebola has shone a spotlight on the importance of building health systems to address challenges such as insufficient numbers of qualified health workers and inadequate surveillance and information systems equipped to respond rapidly to new and existing health challenges. Neglected Tropical Diseases affect the world’s poorest communities. They must remain a global health priority post-2015.”

The Coalition makes eight recommendations. The report encourages the UK Government to:

  • maintain its financial commitment to NTD programmes
  • ensure that the Department for International Development (DFID) disability framework and forthcoming health system framework support a response to NTDs
  • ensure that DFID supports country governments to equip their health systems to deliver essential NTD interventions
  • support the full range of research and development for NTDs
  • promote a cross-sectoral NTD response
  • promote the partnership model exemplified by the NTD response
  • continue to champion international investments for NTDs by supporting the inclusion of NTDs in the Sustainable Development Goals
  • highlight the successes achieved with UK government investment and urge other governments and institutions to contribute more to the fight against NTDs

Good, competent, transparent government, specialist expertise and more health workers are all necessary ingredients to combat NTDs.

Helen Hamilton, Chair of the Coalition said;

“In the last five years of this Parliament much progress has been made. Due to the commitment of the government the UK is a world leader in fighting these devastating diseases. But we need to maintain and increase this investment if we are to achieve the international community’s 2020 target of eliminating and controlling these terrible diseases.”

Download the Annual Report from – http://bit.ly/1DcawHo

For further information about this report, please contact 

Nigeria Champions Integrated Approach to NTDs at the World Health Assembly

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By Helen Hamilton, on behalf of the UK Coalition against NTDs

The first six months of 2014 have already seen a number of milestones reached for the international neglected tropical disease (NTD) community, including the successful NTD-focused side event at the 67th World Health Assembly (WHA) in May and the celebration of progress made on eliminating river blindness by the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control  at the World Bank. A running theme throughout the discussions at these events has been the importance of taking an integrated approach to eliminating a number of NTDs by the end of the decade.

But what does “an integrated approach” mean in practice? It may mean integration of disease specific interventions into broader public health systems, across different groups of diseases or integration across sectors. Integration is not just another buzzword, but a real approach to effectively controlling this group of diseases. Both evidence and common sense tell us that we cannot expect to achieve and sustain our NTD control and elimination goals unless we also tackle the underlying causes — namely the provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities (WASH) and  health care access — and do so in a joined-up way.

One example where integration is yielding results is in Nigeria. As a country with one of the heaviest burdens of NTDs globally, and one which has successfully launched its “NTD masterplan” (a multi-year national plan to control and eliminate several NTDs under the London Declaration), it offers a wealth of valuable insights. The WHA side event in May, which was hosted by the Nigerian government and supported by the UK Coalition against NTDs, south-south sharing of learning was central to the discussion.

Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwa, and the Director of Public Health, Dr. Bridget Okoeguale, highlighted what they see as the foundation of success in combating these diseases: building stronger health systems, equipped to deliver and sustain effective control programmes alongside interventions grounded in a public health approach. To this end, Dr. Okoeguale highlighted that Nigeria is working to embed NTD care within primary health care structures to bring together preventive and curative care. She called on the NTD and WASH sectors to work together across departments responsible for Environment, Water, Education, Housing and Media.

This is certainly an approach supported through the Nigerian NTD elimination programme led by Sightsavers, where both local government and global donors such as the UK government aid agency, DFID, have committed funds to control several NTDs. The success of this programme rides on all parties collaborating under a united goal and sharing knowledge and resources. The programme is designed to support the strengthening of the Nigerian health system alongside delivering targeted interventions to eliminate NTDs.

UKCNTD WHA attendees (3)

Creidt: Yael Vellemen, Wateraid

During the WHA event, this approach was supported by both the World Health Organization and international donors, including representatives from DFID and USAID, who emphasised the investments being made into WASH programmes in NTD endemic countries. Dr. Wendy Harrison, Chair of the UK Coalition against NTDs reiterated the importance of cross-sectoral collaboration to meet the WHO 2020 roadmap goals and the need to embed and standardise monitoring of the impact of NTD programmes on health systems.

All parties at the event were in clear agreement that cross-sectoral integration is vital and that without access to safe effective WASH and health services, NTD elimination will not be possible. However, whether or not this happens will depend on the level of political will, leadership and resources dedicated to achieving our goals in a sustainable way. As the recent announcement of £39m by the British Government to help support the elimination of trachoma in highly endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa reminds us, NTDs have never been as well supported or as prominent on the global health agenda. However there still remains a global $200 million per year funding gap that needs to be addressed if we are to meet the ambitious goals of control and elimination as laid out in the 2012 London Declaration.

We need to make sure that we leverage these global commitments and this momentum to achieve our goals in a way that builds systems to provide safe and effective WASH and health services, and delivers on our commitment to control and eliminate these diseases in a sustainable way.

Download “The Power of Integration: A report from the WHA 2014”.

The UK Coalition against Neglected Tropical Diseases is a collaborative effort by UK organisation that are actively engaged in NTD research and implementation and in advocating for effective and sustainable NTD control programmes.

Find out more about them at www.ntd-coalition.org and follow them on Twitter . This post also appears on the UK Coalition against NTDs blog.

UK Coalition against Neglected Tropical Diseases Launches

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The UK Coalition against NTDs was officially launched today at the All Parliamentary Group on Malaria and NTDs meeting in London. The Coalition is a partnership between UK organizations actively engaged in the implementation, capacity building and research of neglected tropical disease control at scale. Members include Sightsavers, Carter Centre UK, Centre for NTDs at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Partnership for Childhood Development and the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative. Goals of the Coalition include:

  • To raise awareness among UK, European, international policymakers and the broader health community of NTDs as a key barrier to attainment of the MDGs and poverty alleviation
  • To influence policy decisions to best support effective approaches for the long term sustainable control of NTDs
  • To ensure that NTD control is included within national, regional and international health and development frameworks
  • To create a strong collective identity within the UK on NTD control, supported by organizations delivering and supporting public health interventions to communities in extreme poverty
  • To expand the numbers of organizations committed to supporting NTD control both within and outside the health sector

For more on the UK Coalition against Neglected Tropical Diseases, check out this blogpost written by Archana Patel, Sightsavers’ Policy Advisor for NTDs.

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