It has been another busy year for Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) and our incredible partners! 2024 has seen phenomenal progress globally to beat NTDs as we reached a total of 54 countries having eliminated at least one NTD, and a total of seven NTDs eliminated as a public health problem. Congratulations to all countries and partners involved!
We’re put together an end of year round-up of just some of our highlights each month:
January
World NTD Day
We began the year with another fantastic celebration for World NTD Day (30 January)! This included:
- UK members of parliament exploring the role of the UK in ending malaria and NTDs at a cross-party debate in Westminster Hall
- At the Bundestag Subcommittee in Germany, the chairperson of the Subcommittee on Global Health questioned the German Federal Government on its activities to combat NTDs, with fifteen minutes exclusively dedicated to the diseases.
- Launching our #WorldNTDChallenge! With the release of catchy new song ‘Unite. Act. Eliminate’ from talented artists Dereck Mpofu and Etienne Kasereka, it was fantastic to see such a brilliant response as so many leaders were up and dancing, inspiring action to tackle NTDs. Watch this space for ways you can put your dancing shoes on again and call for action to be taken on NTDs as part of the challenge this upcoming World NTD Day 2025.
February
Addis Ababa Call-to-Action
February saw the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We were pleased to support with a high-level side event at the meeting, bringing together stakeholders from across the African continent to discuss strategies for combating NTDs and ensuring sustained progress towards their elimination. Attendees declared “it is time for African nations to take ownership of their health destinies,” and the Addis Ababa Call-to-Action was produced, with leaders committing to increasing domestic financing, prioritising NTDs within broader health agendas, and endorsing the Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Welcoming Dr. Winnie Mpanju-Shumbusho
We were also thrilled to announce the appointment of Dr. Winnie Mpanju-Shumbusho as the new Chair of the Uniting Board, a global health leader whose merit, track record, and thought leadership are widely recognised and an excellent steer for the organisation.
March
USAID commitment
In March, we celebrated USAID committing $114.5 million towards the NTDs programme in 2024 when it was affirmed by House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders. Our then Executive Director Thoko Elphick-Pooley thanked the US for being a solid and dependable partner for countries, and we hope that this continues into the next administration.
April
Kigali Declaration on NTDs endorsements
In April, we celebrated six new organisations endorsing the Kigali Declaration on NTDs and demonstrating their commitment to ending these preventable and treatable diseases. The Kigali Declaration on NTDs is a high-level, political declaration that is mobilising political will, community commitment, resources and action. Each signatory makes a unique and vital contribution towards ending NTDs and collectively, these translate into incredible progress being made. Our recently released Kigali Declaration two-year progress report demonstrates this, and we continue to welcome further endorsements and commitments – contact commitments@unitingtocombatntds.org to find out more.
IDA21 advocacy
We also attended the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings in Washington DC to push forward the idea of a dedicated disease elimination initiative as part of IDA21, and witnessed the World Bank announcing a new commitment to expand access to healthcare for 1.5 billion people. Thoko Elphick-Pooley argued in this blog post that funding disease elimination would help the World Bank to reach these 1.5 billion people and achieve its mandate to alleviate poverty, boost economic growth, and improve living conditions for millions of people on a liveable planet.
May
C7 and G7
With the C7 Summit in May, it was great to see civil society partners across all G7 member states calling on leaders to invest in neglected tropical diseases in a letter in advance of the 50th Summit in Puglia, Italy. The signatories of the letter represented national networks in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and USA, supported by Uniting. Efforts helped to secure NTDs language within the G7 leaders’ communiqué for the third consecutive year. Read more on how national NTD coalitions engaged in the G7 process to make that happen.
Thoko Elphick-Pooley announcement
May also saw big leadership news as our then Executive Director Thoko Elphick-Pooley announced that she would be moving on from Uniting, having led the organisation for 10 years. We want to take this opportunity to thank Thoko again for all her incredible hard work, dedication, and achievements in tackling NTDs in her time with us.
June
World Health Assembly
Reaching June meant the World Health Organization (WHO)’s 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland and for Uniting, it was a week full of events, bilaterals, and meeting partners to build support for financing NTDs and advancing our resource mobilisation work. Chair of the Uniting Board, Dr Winnie Mpanju-Shumbusho, and Executive Director, Thoko Elphick-Pooley, spoke on various panels, pushing for prioritisation of NTDs as well as a fully funded IDA21 with disease elimination as an initiative as a fantastic way to get the job done and celebrate NTD elimination success in 2030. Read our highlights from the event.
Chad eliminates HAT
June also saw the first NTD elimination of the year as Chad celebrated eliminating human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) as a public health problem. They became the 51st country to be recognised by WHO for eliminating a NTD, surpassing the halfway mark towards the 100-country target set for 2030, and spurring on the international community to eliminate NTDs once and for all.
July
Dr. Isatou Touray announcement
In July, we were delighted to announce that global leader and development expert Dr. Isatou Touray was joining Uniting as our interim Executive Director. Bringing a wealth of experience in social activism and government leadership across the African continent, Dr. Touray has been a great driving force for Uniting.
A new partnership with AUDA-NEPAD
One of Dr. Touray’s first engagements was travelling to Ghana for the 45th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council and the 6th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union as, excitingly, Uniting and AUDA-NEPAD initiated a new partnership to accelerate progress in ending NTDs across Africa. The partnership is helping to jointly implement and mobilise resources to support AUDA-NEPAD’s NTD Programme, as well as support high-level advocacy to enhance political will to invest in NTDs, and we are excited by how it is progressing and what is to come in 2025.
August
WHO AFRO
The 74th WHO Regional Committee for Africa (WHO AFRO) in August brought leaders from across the African continent together to discuss key national health priorities. Uniting were pleased to attend:
- Meeting with key partners to progress support for a disease elimination initiative as part of IDA21.
- Submitting statements calling on WHO, member states, and partners to prioritise NTDs.
- Celebrating Dr. Matshidiso Moeti’s extraordinary contribution and leadership in the fight against NTDs, presenting her with an Outstanding Leadership award as she concluded her remarkable nine-year tenure as Regional Director of WHO AFRO.
September
Celebrating the 12th billionth treatment
September was a busy month for activities. We were thrilled to celebrate reaching the 12th billionth donated treatment of medicine to combat lymphatic filariasis globally from GSK, travelling to Mzambarauni Village, Zanzibar to meet patient Mzowele and her daughter and primary caregiver Zuleika. It was fantastic to be able to recognise such a milestone moment alongside the community, with HRH the Duchess of Edinburgh present thanks to a visit organised by Sightsavers, and a big celebration event recognising the impact of the drug donation programme, public-private partnership, and community engagement in collaboration with the Ministry of Health Zanzibar, Sightsavers, and Unlimit Health. Watch our video to learn more about the impact of the drug donation programme on peoples’ lives.
Recognising Japan’s leadership
Uniting also co-organised a high-level event in Japanese Parliament (Diet) with partners SDGs Promise Japan (SPJ) and Bridges to Development, bringing together leadership to recognise and celebrate Japan’s continued investment in NTDs and the impact this is making. We hope to see further leadership from Japan as part of Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-9) next year.
September also saw Jordan become the first country to receive WHO verification for eliminating leprosy, a landmark achievement.
October
NNN
Uniting was once again delighted to participate in the NNN Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in October, coming together for knowledge-sharing with key partners in the fight against NTDs.
New FGS initiative
We also attended the World Health Summit in Berlin, Germany, and it was great to be in the room to see Germany demonstrating their long-standing commitment towards beating NTDs with the announcement of a new Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS) initiative, in partnership with Ministry of Health Malawi. The initiative looks to ensure the diagnosis and treatment of FGS is incorporated into sexual and reproductive health services, whilst raising awareness and mobilising resources for fighting this disease, to support women and girls to lead healthy lives.
FIVE NTD eliminations
October was also a bumper month for NTD eliminations with a staggering five countries announcing that they had eliminated a NTD as a public health problem:
- Brazil and Timor Leste eliminated lymphatic filariasis,
- Pakistan, India, and Viet Nam eliminated trachoma.
Every elimination demonstrates that progress is possible and takes us one step closer to beating NTDs for good.
November
Commissioners meeting in Nigeria
In November, we worked with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare Nigeria to organise a high-level advocacy meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, themed around strengthening efforts to control and eliminate NTDs in the country. Commissioners of Health, Directors in the Federal Ministry of Health, permanent secretaries of the State Ministries of Health, youth NTD advocates, and development partners working in the NTD space all came together to discuss the importance of prioritising NTDs and take action to overcome challenges in country, with a joint communiqué developed highlighting various resolutions reached during the meeting. We look forward to making this an annual event so that progress is made to beat NTDs in Nigeria which experiences the most significant NTD burden on the African continent.
December
This December, we are taking a moment to recognise the progress made towards beating NTDs. There are many more highlights we could have mentioned from 2024, with lots of behind-the-scenes advocacy taking place to ensure that NTDs are prioritised and invested in.
We’d like to thank all our partners for their unwavering support and commitment to our shared mission. As we get ready to move into 2025, we are looking forward to continuing the momentum built in the past year. Together, we can unite, act and eliminate NTDs.
We wish all partners a Happy Christmas and New Year!
