Summary
This document focuses on identifying solutions and next steps that need to be taken to achieve the 2020 goals following the signing of the London Declaration in January 2012
Details
On behalf of the group of organizing partners, we would like to thank everyone who participated in Uniting to Combat NTDs: Translating the London Declaration into Action at the World Bank. For those of us who have been a part of the NTD community for years, it was remarkable to see such a diverse group committed to and enthusiastic about eliminating these devastating diseases.
As World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and others reminded us, NTDs are diseases of inequity and diseases of neglected people. Thus, it was fitting that the community came together at the World Bank, an institution that is tasked with reducing poverty and promoting development.
This meeting could not have taken place were it not for the unprecedented gathering of partners in London in January 2012 to announce new and extended commitments to control and eliminate 10 NTDs by 2020 as part of the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases. Representatives from many of the London partner organizations were present at the meeting, as were stakeholders from the dozens of additional organizations that have endorsed the declaration in the last year. Over 500 individuals signed up for the meeting from 65 different countries, a feat we could not have imagined possible even a few years ago.
As the title suggests, the focus of our discussions was to identify solutions and next steps that need to be taken to achieve the 2020 goals. While it is impossible to capture all of the important conversations that were held during the meeting, we hope that this report is a good record of the ideas that were offered. Moving forward, success requires taking these recommendations and turning them into action. Having seen the passion and dedication on display in Washington, we are confident that we can do this as we begin to move toward a world free from NTDs.
Prof Donald Bundy
Coordinator, African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control
The World Bank
Dr Julie Jacobson
Senior Program Officer for Neglected Infectious Diseases
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Resources
01 November 2012