We mustn’t lose momentum in war against neglected tropical diseases

It is a year since global leaders gathered in Rwanda committed to ending malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) at the Kigali Summit on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).

The summit injected new energy into the fight against NTDs – diseases of poverty, affecting over one billion people that continue to be left behind.

The leaders also endorsed the Kigali Declaration on NTDs – a high-level political tool, designed to galvanise political will and mobilise resources to deliver the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) and WHO NTD road map 2030 goals.

Sixty-two entities, including 13 endemic countries, have endorsed the Kigali Declaration on NTDs. Over $1.5 billion was mobilised and 19 billion donated treatments were committed by pharmaceutical companies.

These investments yield the greatest return of any investment in global health — estimated at $26 for every $1 dollar invested.

They also deliver tangible, measurable, and verifiable impacts for people and countries.

Take progress in NTD elimination, for example. In 2022 alone, eight countries eliminated an NTD and Togo became the first country globally to eliminate four of these diseases.

Just last month, Mali, Bangladesh and Benin eliminated trachoma, a leading cause of infectious blindness that mostly affects poor, rural areas. Now, 49 countries have eliminated an NTD.

Despite these gains, the world remains off-track on the targets set out in the WHO NTD road map and in the SDGs, where the goal is to reduce by 90 percent the number of people requiring an intervention against an NTD by 2030.

That means a reduction from 1.65 billion people requiring an intervention against an NTD today, to just 200 million in 2030! With seven years to go before 2030, we are only at a 28 percent reduction.

Persistent under-funding of NTDs, exacerbated by global shocks such as Covid-19, high inflation rates, and a debt burden facing low and middle-income countries, threatens the delivery of the promises made to some of the most vulnerable people.

As world leaders deliberate on a new financing pact for the SDGs and climate, they need to deliver tangible solutions that will transform the lives of people and the planet. We should move beyond rhetoric to action.

The writer is the Executive Director of Uniting to Combat NTDs, a global advocacy organisation.