—calls for prioritization of support in fight against Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)
His Excellency, John Agyekum Kufuor served as the President of the Republic of Ghana from 2001-2009. During his presidency, he served as chairperson of the African Union (2007-08) during which he supervised the peaceful Resolution of the conflict in Kenya, among others. He was chairman of the Economic Community of West African States for two Terms (2003-05) and saw to the successful negotiations that brought peace and Major post-war reconstruction to Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Liberia. In April 2012 Sabin Vaccine Institute announced President Kufuor as the organization’s new neglected tropical disease (NTD) Special Envoy. In the first year of his appointment as Special Envoy, President Kufuor has travelled extensively promoting the efforts of the Global Network in the fight against NTDs. During his second trip (to Belgium and France) on behalf of the Global Network, President Kufuor took time off his busy schedule to talk to Musah Ibrahim Musah, Editor at AfricaNewsAnalysis in a telephone interview from Paris. Excerpts:
MUSAH: Your Excellency, you have travelled and met other leaders since you assumed the leadership as Special Envoy to the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases. How optimistic are you about fresh support for long-term pledges to boost NTD investment in Africa and beyond?
President Kufuor: I am quite optimistic because everywhere we have been so far, we’ve been given a good ear. These authorities are people who have been involved and supporting and sponsoring the causes for promoting the general good health of people. Our work really is, mainly to get them to, perhaps, balance their allocations of support. Because if you take the various authorities like Norway, Germany, Belgium, and we were with the European Commission yesterday (March 12, 2013), the United States, the United Kingdom, all of them have been supporting the fight against the so-called orphaned or Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). The only thing is, perhaps the prioritization of support for these diseases have tended to lag behind that of the major known diseases like HIV-AIDS, malaria, and TB. So, our work is to, more or less get them not to continue to treat the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) like the ‘country cousins’ of the major ones. We find all these diseases so inter-connected with the big ones that if they are not included in the prioritization we find eventually that they might become causes for relapse even of the treated major diseases in the endemic areas. So we want a more balanced support for the NTDs with the big ones.
We are sure you are working hard to get the prioritization of support to a positive end.
Yes, yes, everywhere we’ve been so far, we’ve had a very good hearing and there is no reason on our part to doubt the sincerity of commitment of the donor community.
Some experts describe you as “Voice for Change” to try and impress on your fellow leaders in the G20, the European Union etc. on the need for fresh impetus in the cause. How satisfied are you with your role so far?
Well, I am quite satisfied. I got invited to assume the role as you describe it just about two years ago and as I said, so far everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve been given a good hearing and I do not have any cause that the efforts of the Global Network would be in vain. So, I am happy.
Are government’s and policy makers you have so far met, aware of the hypothesis that investing in NTD control and elimination is a cost-effective public health measure and thus one of the best buys in healthcare interventions?
Well, the argument is so clear, and is supported by very convincing Statistics from authoritative sources and calculations that you need as little as 50 Cent a year per person to fight at least seven of the so-called neglected diseases to bring them under control, effective control, …… more cost effective than this, whereas with the major ones like HIV-AIDS, you’re talking anti-malarials fights, you’re talking tuberculosis, figures per person tend to be very, very, high; but the prevalence, if you have to compare and contrast, are of the neglected diseases is so big, they afflict over a billion people compared with, say, some tens of millions with the more publicized diseases like HIV-AIDS. These diseases are opportunistic, if you fight say malaria exclusively, and you do not look at the various worms in our water bodies and our polluted soils, then you see that your efforts with say, malaria, may be not be realized politically. So, the diseases are all related, inter-related. So, we want an integrated and comprehensive assault on all the diseases including the big names as well as the neglected diseases. This is what the whole campaign is all about.
Your Excellency, what, in your view is the role of public private partnership in the management, control and elimination of NTDs?
The whole world is awakening to the necessity to tackle social problems of growth and development again in a partnership way. You don’t leave all the problems and challenges to governments exclusively and then sit back to expect solutions to the challenges. The governments after all are representatives of the bigger society. And so what the public private partnership concept is calling on societies to do is to realize that, for improving the quality of life of people which should be central all this things we’re talking about is government’s efforts plus the effects of say the private sector, and when we talk private sector here, we include civil society organizations and even the individuals and communities. We must all hold hands together to fight the challenges; to overcome the challenges. So at the end of the day, quality of life of the citizen or, of the individual is bettered. That’s what it is about; and I believe the entire world is awakening to this. And this is the justification for promoting the public private partnership idea.
Your Excellency, what would you say about the London Declaration one year on?
Well I will say the world is moving in the right direction. We are into globalization. I personally believe, now we’re not talking of just nationalities, or races or gender, we’re talking of humanity and I believe the world is moving in the right direction with the declaration such as the London one.
As part of the END7 campaign, a PSA (Public Service Announcement) was recently launched featuring celebrities. How important, in your opinion, is Social Media in the fight against NTDs?
Social Media? The world moves on communications now. If you conceive an idea and you do not put it across convincingly to rally support across the board for the implementation of the idea, the idea remains only in your head, perhaps. So the social media, I believe has a very, very important role to play in advancing the good cause of our time.
Finally, Mr President, in your role as Special Envoy to the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), what would you say are the economic value of NTD programmes and the positive impact NTD control and elimination campaigns have on socio-economic development?
You need a healthy worker to achieve productivity. If I may reduce it to the proper nurturing of children, if the child is not made healthy, you put it to school, and you find that it cannot even pay the necessary attention to studies. So, efforts in trying to educate children would be quite wasteful. So, health I believe is the pivot around which you talk productivity. And it is so in the economy. A healthy community would be a productive community, and that’s the way to grow the economy to better conditions of life for all. So, what we’re trying to do in the fight against neglected diseases is, by implication, like trying to promote productivity.
Thank you for your time, Mr President.
H.E. John A. Kufuor
His Excellency, John Agyekum Kufuor served as the President of the Republic of Ghana from 2001-2009. During his presidency, he served as chairperson of the African Union (2007-08) during which he supervised the peaceful Resolution of the conflict in Kenya, among Others. He was chairman of the Economic Community of West African States for two Terms (2003-05) and saw to the successful negotiations that brought peace and Major post-war reconstruction to Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Liberia. Since leaving Office, he amongst Otters joined, by invitation, the global elite Club of Madrid of former world Leaders; assumed presidency of the Italian development organization, Alliance for Africa working in health and education Sektors on the Kontinent; he has also succeeded Martti Ahtisaari the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize winner for peace and former President of Finland as Chair of the Governing Council of Interpeace, a UN supported but Geneva based alliance organization for peace operating in 17 countries around the world. In April 2012 Sabin Vaccine Institute announced President Kufuor as the organization’s new neglected tropical disease (NTD) Special Envoy.
About END7
END7 is an international advocacy campaign that seeks to raise the awareness and funding necessary to control and eliminate the seven most common neglected tropical diseases by 2020. The international effort to control and eliminate NTDs has the support of a diverse group of global partners, including the World Health Organization (WHO), national governments, pharmaceutical companies, corporations and individuals. END7 is run by the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, an initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute.
About NTDs
NTDs are a group of 17 parasitic and bacterial infections that are the most common afflictions of the world’s poorest people. They blind, disable and disfigure their victims, trapping them in a cycle of poverty and disease. Research shows that treating NTDs lifts millions out of poverty by ensuring that children stay in school to learn and prosper; by strengthening worker productivity; and by improving maternal and child health.
About Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases
The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (Global Network), a major program of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, is an advocacy and resource mobilization initiative dedicated to raising the awareness, political will, and funding necessary to control and eliminate the seven most common neglected tropical diseases (NTDs): soil-transmitted helminths (hookworm, ascariasis, and trichuriasis), onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, trachoma, and lymphatic filariasis.
The vision of the Global Network is a world free of NTDs where children and families are able to grow, learn and become productive members of their communities. We are committed to working with governments, individuals, institutions and corporations globally to make this a reality as we end the neglect.
About Sabin Vaccine Institute
Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization made up of scientists, researchers, and advocates dedicated to reducing needless human suffering from vaccine preventable and neglected tropical diseases. Sabin works with governments, leading public and private organizations, and academic institutions to provide solutions for some of the world’s most pervasive health care challenges.
Since its founding in 1993 in honor of the oral polio vaccine developer, Dr. Albert B. Sabin, the Institute has been at the forefront of efforts to control, treat, and eliminate vaccine preventable and neglected tropical diseases by developing new vaccines, advocating use of existing vaccines, and promoting increased access to affordable medical treatments.
Sabin was founded on the legacy and global vision of one of medicine’s most pre-eminent scientific figures, Dr. Albert B. Sabin, who is best known for developing the oral live virus polio vaccine. Dr. Sabin not only dedicated his entire professional career to groundbreaking medical advancements to reduce human suffering, he also waged a tireless and lifelong campaign against poverty and ignorance.
Sabin works to provide greater access to vaccines and essential treatments for hundreds of millions of people stuck in a cycle of pain, poverty and despair. Sabin’s three main programs – Sabin Vaccine Development, the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, and Vaccine Advocacy and Education – strive to uphold Dr. Sabin’s lifelong efforts by developing preventative measures for diseases that place burdens on the world’s poorest countries.
Sabin’s diverse partnerships are key to our efforts to fulfill the organization’s mission. In 2011, the Sabin Product Development Partnership (Sabin PDP) relocated to Houston, Texas to begin a new affiliation with Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). The Sabin PDP laboratories are housed in a new, state-of-the-art, 10,000 square-foot facility at TCH, which is part of Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest medical center.
These and other partnerships with groups such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, governments, academic institutions, scientists, medical professionals, and non-profit organizations are critical in furthering the development of strategies to reduce human suffering from devastating vaccine preventable and neglected tropical diseases.