01 November 2023 - 02 November 2023
The Global Onchocerciasis Network for Elimination (GONE) will hold its first in person meeting on 1st and 2nd November 2023 in Senegal. The meeting will bring together national coordinators for onchocerciasis, Chairs of national onchocerciasis elimination committees of endemic and formerly endemic countries as well as partners, experts and stakeholders.
On 30 January 2023, the WHO, Member States and partners, launched GONE to accelerate progress towards onchocerciasis targets set in the 2030 NTD road map. GONE provides a platform for endemic countries, civil society organizations and individuals to share experiences and challenges, identify gaps and best practices, and strengthen existing partnerships and integration along the path to achieving the 2030 road map targets: to stop MDA of ivermectin in at least one focus in 34 countries; to stop MDA in more than 50% of the population in at least 16 countries; to stop MDA in the entire endemic population of at least 12 countries; and to verify interruption of transmission in 12 countries.
Objectives of the GONE meeting
- Review progress of national elimination programmes, discuss challenges and identify critical actions to be taken to achieve road map 2030 targets and milestones for onchocerciasis
- Jointly develop strategies to address major obstacles to elimination;
- Serve as a platform for knowledge-sharing among participants;
- Strengthen global and regional collaboration to enable a more rapid and sustainable sharing of knowledge, lessons learnt and best practices among countries and partners;
- Formalize and standardize communication mechanisms and advocacy activities to help ensure that priority concerns are addressed.
Participants
National onchocerciasis coordinators of Ministries of Health of endemic countries, Chairs of national onchocerciasis elimination committees, researchers, non-governmental organizations, donors, onchocerciasis experts, civil society and partners.
Languages
The meeting will be conducted in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese with simultaneous interpretation.
For more information and registration contact: rozendaaln@who.int