In the global fight for the control and elimination of the world’s most devastating and debilitating diseases that affects over a billion people, one organization, the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases has since emerged as a leading light in this noble venture.
An initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, it envisioned a world free of NTDs where the entire community, particularly, children, are able to grow, have access to education that will eventually enable them make meaningful contributions to their communities.
To get an insight into the Global Networks views on the state of NTDs in the aftermath of the release of the 2nd WHO (World Health Organization) Report on NTDs, Dr Neeraj Mistry, the Managing Director, told AfricaNewsAnalysis (ANA) in an exclusive telephone interview that January 2013 was “a really important month in the NTD movement.”
He observed that “there was the release of the 2nd NTD Report from WHO, there was also a release of the Report of the London Declaration on NTDs which was all the partners that are sort of working towards a common goal to reach the elimination targets of 2020.
“And this is all based on the analysis contained in the WHO Report which was also a year ago when the WHO released a Road Map to tackle NTDs.”
Dr Mistry described the positive developments as “a significant progress on NTDs and its done in a very cost-effective way, it’s done in partnership with, as a public private partnership, with the drug companies who are donating the drugs and assistance from WHO in creating the policies and programme guidelines and which countries are adhering to, the technical assistance from the NGO partners who are involved in countries working with governments which are actually executing the programmes.”
He observed that “things are going well,” adding that “there is global momentum.”
On what needs to be done to actually meet the 2020 elimination targets, Dr Mistry stressed the need to “keep the pressure up and accelerate the response in order to meet those targets.”
Asked how he intends to keep up the pressure, Dr Mistry had this to say:
“So this is where we actually have to bring new partners into the NTD response. For example, the largest contributors of NTD are the US and UK governments and what we need to do is actually bring more countries co-opted from the G20 and the wealthier nations to actually contribute to that. The second thing is we have about 15 countries around the world now they have endemic countries; countries endemic with NTDs that have national integrated plans for NTD control. This is an excellent step and we have to ensure that these aren’t just plans in the Ministry of Health but they are actually being executed upon. And many countries are on the path to launching these plans and implementing these programmes but we’ve got to make sure that they actually make these things happen and working together with that. And the third element is that we’ve got to ensure that the drug donations and commitments that have been made by the pharmaceutical companies are actually not sitting in warehouses but they’re getting to the mouths of the patients. So we’ve got to make sure that the supply chains and delivery of these drugs is actually working.
How are you going to ensure that governments sustain their work in prevention and control of NTDs?
The policies are in place, the drug supplies are there, the technical assistance is there but the pressure comes from general society and that is why we launched the PSA (Public Service Announcement), for the N7 campaign with the celebrities. And these work on two levels. One, in the donor countries like the US, the UK and Europe, this will help to raise awareness to NTDs as a global health and development priority that would address needs of the poorest billion people in the world and so that’s why the tax payers in the wealthier countries can put pressure on their governments to continue the commitment and actually put new resources into NTD control.”
Dr Mistry said “the PSA is to actually raise awareness among the general populations of endemic countries so they can put pressure on their governments to actually implement these programmes. And I think that the opportunities we have is that the PSA campaign is a social media campaign and we’re all aware now that across Africa, mobile connectivity is at an all-time high and the use of social media is also on the increase. So we want to start creating the tools like with the PSA that will actually help raise awareness across Africa for example of NTDs that will actually hold governments accountable for these programme.
Speaking on the impacts of NTDs on the socio-economic development of endemic countries, the Global Network’s Managing Director had this to say: “this is one of the most important motivating factors for governments to institute policies and bilateral donor programmes for NTDs. In January this year something else has happened when we held a panel in Washington DC for the launch of the Hudson Review on the ‘Socio-economic impact of NTDs’. And a lot of information is contained in that. Let me just give you an example, there was a study done by Michael Kremer (Gates Professor of Developing Societies at Harvard University) that showed following children for 20 years into adulthood and those adults who have higher rates of economic return and productivity where actually de-wormed as children when compared to those adults who were not de-wormed as children. And so that justified the socio-economic return on investment just from de-worming. But further to that, and what we call positive externalities of interventions, we’re finding that increase school attendance, there’s better improvement in cognitive developments in children. The level of energy from addressing things like anemia and malnutrition when de-worming and treatment of NTDs is done is really, really high. The responsiveness and effectiveness of routine immunizations for measles is also improved. And so we’re finding that the impacts are far-reaching. We have demonstrated high impact on something like economic productivity in the long run and that in itself makes the case. But furthermore we find that there is even exponential impact through the broader societal impact that NTDs have on education, nutrition, general well-being and energy and economic productivity.
Asked to comment on the assertion that prevention and control of NTDs will contribute to the attainment of several MDGs. Dr Mistry said: “Absolutely, and I thing that in the current articulation of the MDGs, NTDs fall into the other diseases on MDGs, HIV, TB, Malaria and we feel that as we look at the post MDGs, the post 2015 architecture of how we organize what’s being called the sustainable development goal, we need to find the cross-cutting interventions and issues that actually have such broad impact on society. And we feel that NTDs because of its impact on nutrition, education, general well-being, anemia, the standards of the role of women in society , economic productivity it is one of those cross-cutting issues that touch nearly all the MDGs level intervention, upon which all our other interventions depend.
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.
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 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.