May 2025
On Thursday 1st May WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, attended an Association of Accredited Correspondents at the United Nations (ACANU) press briefing on pandemic preparedness, where he championed investment in NTDs and clearly outlined that now is a critical juncture for global health.
While celebrating the progress on the Pandemic Agreement and the successful containment of the Ebola outbreak in Uganda, Tedros also provided a stark warning regarding the significant disruption to global health financing. He indicated that abrupt cuts to overseas development aid (ODA) and a challenging economic climate are jeopardising decades of hard-won progress, particularly in the fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
He said: “We are grateful to those that have for decades funded health systems globally… But instead of an orderly decline, or an orderly withdrawal, the abrupt cuts to [ODA] and a challenging economic and trade environment are sewing chaos in public health.”
Tedros continued by spotlighting how NTDs, which affect approximately 1 billion of the world's most vulnerable people globally, have seen remarkable success thanks to sustained efforts and collaborations. Saying: “Thanks to the huge efforts of the U.S. government, more than three billion treatments have been delivered to 1.7 billion people in 26 countries over the past two decades.”
“The combination of 1.4 billion U.S. dollars from the United States, generous pharmaceutical donations, private sector innovation and largely public sector health workers, has helped stop transmission of debilitating diseases such as lymphatic filariasis, river blindness, schistosomiasis, intestinal worms and trachoma in 14 countries”’.
Despite these successes, Tedros went on to advise how this progress is now under serious threat, stating: “the abrupt cuts and withdrawal of U.S. funding, on top of other donor countries cutting investments to NTDs, have led to treatment campaigns for more than 140 million people being paused, and research on new medical tools being cut.” and continued by urging governments not to turn their backs on those who’re most vulnerable: “we urge governments to not turn their backs on the poorest and most marginalised and undermine decades of progress.”
