As the Partnership has evolved to a new structure, we are developing the Uniting strategy and operational plan to support the new WHO NTD road map 2021-2030. A consultation process and timeline has been agreed with the Board and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Following input from initial discussions with more than 50 NTD partners, in early 2020 the Board was presented with a summary of the partner’s views on the scope and activities for the Uniting Partnership. To resolve certain key questions, the Board requested the Consultative Forum make a recommendation on priority areas where we are uniquely positioned to support the new WHO NTD Roadmap. The Consultative Forum presented a recommendation that we expand our remit from the 10 London Declaration diseases to support all 20 NTDs in the Roadmap. Furthermore, we should prioritise activities to support the enablers identified in Figure 7 (Gap Assessment for each NTD) of the WHO NTD Roadmap, more commonly referred to as the “Heatmap”. These enablers include 1) advocacy and funding, 2) collaboration and multi-sectoral action, and 3) capacity and awareness building.

As a result of these engagements to date, we have developed a draft strategy, setting out the key aims, goals and outcomes for our work. In July we plan to send out a survey to the partner network to gather feedback on what has been drafted to date. This survey will be open through the end of July, so please be on the lookout for this opportunity to contribute to our new strategy.

Afterwards, we will take this feedback to a Task Team, which has been formed with members of the Board and Consultative Forum, to review and provide direction on how the strategy should be updated to incorporate the input from the Partnership.