The London Declaration on NTDs: One Year On

January 2013 marks the 1st anniversary of the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases where pharmaceuticals, governments and donors pledged to eliminate or control 10 Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) by 2020. The first year has seen great progress in fulfilling their commitments and delivering results that will significantly impact people’s lives.

Some of the impressive achievements include:

The pharmaceutical industry has supplied 1.12 billion treatments for NTDs, which has easily met the amounts required by endemic countries.

40 countries have announced national multi-year integrated NTD plans, seven of which will have launched by the anniversary date.

Donor countries have also played a key role with the UK increasing its NTD spending by an impressive 73 percent between 2011 and 2012. While the US Agency for International Development’s spending on NTDs reached an all-time high in 2012 of $89 million.

In addition, when development aid to Mali was frozen due to the coup last year the END Fund, in cooperation with the private sector, ran a mass drug administration programme benefiting 12 million.

On a disease specific level, 29 countries have taken action to combat soil transmitted helminthiasis, through the use of albendazole or mebendazole drugs.  

As a member of the UK Coalition against NTDs, Malaria Consortium is delighted at the significant progress that has been made on the NTD elimination and eradication agenda but we believe that a continued collective approach across all sectors is crucial in achieving NTD elimination.

For a more detailed list of the achievements of the last 12 months on NTDs see the From Promises to Progress report.

For more information on the London declaration and the global fight against NTDs visit www.unitingtocombatntds.org.

For a snapshot of the debilitating effects of these diseases see this photo essay on the Guardian Development Professional Network hub on Malaria and Infectious Diseases, which highlights recent efforts to prevent blindness as a result of trachoma in South Sudan.

For more information on Malaria Consortium’s activities in NTDs, please contact [email protected].