The FINANCIAL -- 13 pharmaceutical companies, the U.S., U.K. and
U.A.E governments, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World
Bank and other global health organisations announced a new, coordinated
push to accelerate progress toward eliminating or controlling 10
neglected tropical diseases by the end of the decade, according to Pfizer.
Uniting efforts with NTD-endemic countries, partners pledged to bring a unique focus to defeating these diseases and to work together to improve the lives of the 1.4 billion people worldwide affected by NTDs, most of whom are among the world's poorest.
In the largest coordinated effort to date to combat NTDs, the group announced at an event at the Royal College of Physicians that they would: sustain or expand existing drug donation programs to meet demand through 2020; share expertise and compounds to accelerate research and development of new drugs; and provide more than US$785 million to support R&D efforts and strengthen drug distribution and implementation programmes. Partners also endorsed the "London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases," in which they pledged new levels of collaborative effort and tracking of progress.
To guide the effort against NTDs, the World Health Organisation this week unveiled a new strategy, Accelerating work to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases—A roadmap for implementation, that sets targets for what can be achieved by the end of the decade.
New commitments from partners will close the funding gap to eradicate Guinea worm disease and expedite progress toward the 2020 goals of elimination for lymphatic filariasis, blinding trachoma, sleeping sickness and leprosy, and control of soil-transmitted helminthes, schistosomiasis, river blindness, Chagas disease and visceral leishmaniasis.
With new and existing pledges totaled, companies will donate an average of 1.4 billion treatments each year to those in need, according to the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations. In addition, new research and development collaborative efforts and access agreements with 11 companies and the R&D organisation Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative are providing unprecedented access to compound libraries that could lead to new treatments. These commitments will work in parallel with other efforts to speed the development of critical NTD treatments, including WIPO Re:Search, a database of research compounds, knowledge and expertise.
To close the funding gap for Guinea worm eradication, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, the Gates Foundation, and the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, will donate US$40 million to The Carter Center. These commitments complement an October pledge from the U.K. Department for International Development that it would contribute pounds 20 million if others come forward—part of a four-year, pounds 195 million commitment to NTDs announced by DFID last week.
The U.S. Agency for International Development also announced an $89 million appropriation by the U.S. Congress to strengthen drug delivery and distribution programmes, building on its US$212 million investment since 2006. In addition, the World Bank will extend its financing and technical support to help African countries build stronger community health systems that will integrate NTD elimination and control, as well as work with other partners to expand a trust fund to combat river blindness to other preventable NTDs in Africa.
Today's pledges and Declaration come in response to WHO's 2010 report, Working to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases, which called for new resources to overcome NTDs. Representatives from the pharmaceutical industry, the Gates Foundation and other partners worked during the past year to develop this expanded, coordinated effort.
The governments of Bangladesh, Brazil, Mozambique and Tanzania, where NTDs are endemic, announced that they would implement integrated plans to defeat NTDs and devote political and financial resources to combat these diseases. All partners pledged accountability by exploring mechanisms to regularly track progress toward the 2020 goals.
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