Uniting to Combat NTDs regularly holds webinars for our partner network, designed to keep partners informed, share useful resources, and allow space for collaboration and feedback. Here you can find slides and remarks from the webinar held on 14 July 2025.
14 July 2025
Download the slides from the meeting
Welcome remarks from Dr Isatou Touray, Executive Director, Uniting to Combat NTDs
Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to all our partners joining us from around the world. It’s a real pleasure to welcome you to this Uniting partner webinar — and to be back together with so many of you after our last partner webinar in March.
Let me begin by thanking each and every one of you for your continued commitment, collaboration, and tireless efforts. Over the past few months, the NTD community has not only kept moving forward — we’ve rallied together in important ways to confront the funding crisis now facing NTD programmes.
We know the cuts to ODA and programmatic financing are not just numbers on a page — they have real consequences for real people. And yet, despite the uncertainty and the strain, you’ve continued to show what true partnership looks like. You’ve advocated, adapted, and mobilised to protect the progress we’ve worked so hard to achieve — and to chart a new way forward.
And amidst the challenges, we’ve still had powerful moments of hope. At the World Health Assembly in May, we celebrated the elimination of trachoma as a public health problem in both Mauritania and Papua New Guinea. These achievements serve as a reminder of what’s possible when we remain focused, united, and committed to ending these diseases for good.
Today’s webinar is an opportunity to update you on the work Uniting has been doing over the past few months to support and strengthen this collective mission — especially our work to unlock new funding for NTDs through the World Bank’s International Development Association’s 21st replenishment, or IDA21.
This is a promising pathway to secure long-term, sustainable financing for NTDs, and we look forward to sharing more information on this important work.
I’m also delighted to welcome our guest speaker, Albis Francesco Gabrielli, who leads Strategic Information and Analytics on NTDs at the World Health Organization. Albis - we’re so pleased to have you with us today to share updates from the WHO.
So once again, thank you for being here. Thank you for everything you continue to do to drive progress, protect lives, and keep neglected tropical diseases at the top of the global health agenda.
