Media release: Global Partners Are Taking the “Neglect” out of “Neglected Tropical Diseases” Private and public sector leaders release progress report and announce new funding
Excerpts
Global partners supporting the London Declaration on NTDs met in Paris to release a progress report of efforts around NTDs over the past two years, and to announce some US$240 million in new funding commitments. The 10 diseases covered by the London Declaration and its 2020 target include river blindness, Guinea worm, lymphatic filariasis, blinding trachoma, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminths, leprosy, Chagas disease, visceral leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness.

Several partners also announced new funding towards the fight against NTDs. A group of partners is committing more than US$120 million to address intestinal worms common in communities with limited access to clean water and sanitation, including US$50 million from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). In addition, the World Bank Group, which has long played an important role in fighting onchocerciasis (river blindness), is committing US$120 million toward the goal of NTD control and elimination in low-income countries in Africa, including funding for school-based deworming efforts.

Pharmaceutical companies are fulfilling their commitments to sustain and expand drug donations through 2020, which resulted in nearly 1.4 billion NTD treatments in 2013. Investments in NTD program implementation and delivery are leveraging these drug donations – valued at an estimated US$19 billion through 2020 – and ensuring they reach all people who need them. Every new dollar invested in NTD program implementation helps deliver up to US$10 in donated drugs.

View the live webcast of the panel event at Institut Pasteur here.
Media release: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2014/04/Global-Partners-Are-Taking-the-Neglect-out-of-Neglected-Tropical-Diseases