ENDING NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES FOR HEALTHY, SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITIES
WHY WE FIGHT NTDS
NTDS ARE THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF THE WORLD’S POOR. SPREAD BY INSECTS LIKE MOSQUITOES AND FLIES, OR THROUGH CONTACT WITH CONTAMINATED WATER OR SOIL, THESE DISEASES DISABLE AND DEBILITATE ONE IN SIX PEOPLE WORLDWIDE, INCLUDING HALF A BILLION CHILDREN. NTDS PERPETUATE A CYCLE OF POVERTY AND DISEASE THAT CONTINUES FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.
THE IMPACT OF NTDS NTDs prevent children from growing and learning and reduce adults’ economic productivity and ability to care for their families. As a result, NTD control is linked to successful outcomes in nearly every major global health and development issue.
Health NTDs can cause blindness, severe swelling of the limbs and even death. For instance, schistosomiasis is the world’s second largest parasitic killer after malaria, HEALTH/DISEASES UN IVERSAL EDUCATION E D U C ATION while trachoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness. NTDs can increase susceptibility to tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, as well as hinder the treatment of these diseases.
Education Children with NTDs are often too sick to attend or perform while some healthy children ECO NOMIC DEVELO PMENT well in school, HUNGER AND N UTRITION HUNGER A ND NUTRITION miss out on a chance at education because they must UNIVER SA L E DUC AT IO N E D U C ATI ON care for parents or siblings who have NTDs. Studies have shown that school absenteeism decreases by H EALTH/D ISEASES U N IVERSAL E DUCAT I ON E D U C AT I O N up to 25 percent when deworming medicine is provided to students.
Economic Development REDUCE CHILD HOOD
WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT
MORTALIT Y
$
H UNGER AND NUTRI TI ONprevent adults from working NTDs are debilitating and IMPROVE MAT ERNAL HEA LTH and caring for their families. Evidence suggests that treating hookworm alone can increase future earnings 43 percent. HUN G ER A N D N U TRI TI O N ECONOMIC D EVELOPM E Nwage T HUNGE R by ANDup NUTto RI T I ON HUN G E R A N D NU T RIT IO N
R EDUC E C H ILD H O O D
E D U C AT I O N H E ALT H/ D IS E AS E S
U N IVERSA L EDUCATION
E D U C ATION
Hunger and Nutrition
HUN G E R A N D NU T RIT I O N E CON OMIC D EV E LO PM EN T
Anemia and malnutrition are common side effects of several NTDs. Even when people have enough $ bodies of nutrients that food to eat, NTDs rob their they need. Children who suffer from anemia and HU N G E R AND NUTRITION HUN GE R AN D NUTR I TI O N malnutrition are vulnerable to delays in physical and cognitive development.
Women’s Empowerment
WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT I M P ROV E MAT ERN A L H EA LT H
Most NTDs have severe effects on women and girls. In particular, pregnant women with anemia caused by RE DUCE CHIL DHOOD intestinal worms have a higher risk for complications MORTAL IT Y IMP ROVE including infections, miscarriage and death. More MAT E RNAL H E A LTH than 16 million women and girls in Africa have female genital schistosomiasis (FGS), making them three times more likely to become infected with HIV than those without FGS.
THE 7 MOST COMMON NTDS Together, these seven diseases impact 1.4 billion people around the world. Many are infected with multiple NTDs. 1
scariasis (roundworm)*, an intestinal worm infection that A can cause malnutrition and anemia. 807 million infected
2
Hookworm*, an intestinal worm infection that can cause itching, abdominal pain, weakness and malnutrition. 700 million infected
3
Lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), a parasitic infection spread by mosquitoes that can cause severe disfigurement and swelling of the limbs. 120 million infected
4
Onchocerciasis (river blindness), a parasitic infection spread by black flies that causes uncontrollable itching and eventually blindness. 37 million infected Schistosomiasis (snail fever), a parasitic infection spread by snails that can cause fever, itching and organ failure. It is the second leading parasitic killer in the world after malaria. 207 million infected Trachoma, a bacterial disease that causes the eyelashes to turn inward and scratch the eye until the victim goes blind. 84 million infected
7
Trichuriasis (whipworm)*, a worm infection of the large intestine that can cause malnutrition and anemia. 604 million infected
*Soil-transmitted helminths
A SIMPLE, COST-EFFECTIVE SOLUTION Unlike other major health problems that we face, we already have the necessary tools to control and eliminate the seven most common NTDs by the end of this decade. We can treat and protect communities from all seven NTDs by providing them with a simple package of pills once a year through a process known as mass drug administration (MDA). Pharmaceutical companies donate most of the medicines that treat NTDs, so expenses are largely limited to transporting NTD pills within endemic countries, mobilizing the public to accept the treatments, training community health workers and conducting program monitoring and evaluation activities.
This brings the total cost of treating one person against all seven NTDs to about 50 cents per year!
NTD CONTROL IN BURUNDI A Story of Partnership
BURUNDI
After a decade of civil war that began in the 1990s, Burundi lacked the necessary resources to fight NTDs. Nearly 1 million people were displaced and poverty rates had increased 100 percent. More than 40 percent of the population were infected by NTDs such as schistosomiasis in some areas. The effects were particularly hard on families. Georgette, a mother of five from the village of Rutoke, felt powerless as she watched her children fall ill to intestinal worm infections, parasites that fed on the insides of their bodies and caused swollen bellies, nausea, and weakness. “My children couldn’t eat because their stomachs were so swollen with intestinal worms. It was devastating,” she said. But in 2007, a new partnership between the Legatum Foundation, the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, the Ministry of Health of Burundi, CBM International, Geneva Global and the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative began to change this.
Georgette and two of her children
The partnership implemented the first mass drug administration—where 1.8 million Burundians at risk received pills to treat up to seven NTDs at once. Pharmaceutical companies donated most of the pills, and volunteer community drug distributors worked to ensure that the pills reached every community. After her family’s health improved following treatment, Georgette felt empowered to do more. She became a community drug distributor and worked to educate those near to her on the benefits of treatment.
“When visiting other families in the community, I can see real, positive change since distribution began,” Georgette said. As a result of this integrated NTD program in Burundi, prevalence of NTDs has decreased significantly and the government of Burundi has become a strong partner by adopting a national NTD policy and developing a five-year national plan for NTD control and elimination. Burundi has become an example of success for Africa, and the world.
A COMMUNITY OF ADVOCATES Neglected tropical disease (NTD) control and elimination cannot be achieved by any one group alone. To be successful, NTD treatment programs require collaboration among local health care systems, governments, schools, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private donors. The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, an initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, is a part of the NTD community and works with a variety of partners to raise the awareness, political will and funding necessary to control and eliminate the seven most common NTDs by 2020.
KEY PARTNERS overnments of countries G impacted by NTDs
Regional development banks
The World Bank
Private donors
Academic institutions
Corporations
Faith-based organizations
Foundations
Governments of countries that support NTD treatment and research
The World Health Organization and its regional affiliates
Non-governmental development organizations
Pharmaceutical industry
END7 CAMPAIGN END7 is a campaign run by the Global Network to raise awareness of the seven most common NTDs and the resources necessary to control and eliminate them as public health threats by 2020. Support from the general public will encourage global political and philanthropic leaders, as well as national governments in endemic countries, to focus more attention on NTD control and elimination activities.
JOIN US! WWW.END7.ORG
WHY SUPPORT THE GLOBAL NETWORK The Global Network is uniquely positioned to fight neglected tropical diseases over the course of the next decade. We care about the big picture. Since 2006, we’ve been one of the few programs to promote elimination and control strategies for all seven of the most common NTDs. We work toward control and elimination of NTDs globally, not just in one particular region or location. We seek greater efficiency in global development projects. Through our partner network, we have supported integrated NTD treatment programs that leverage successful delivery platforms such as schoolbased health care and water and sanitation programs. We’re connectors. The Global Network brings together international partners at all levels of government, business, and civil society to break down the logistical and financial barriers to delivering existing NTD treatments to the people who need them most. We’re fiscally responsible. The Sabin Vaccine Institute, home to the Global Network, has received Charity Navigator’s highest 4-star rating for five consecutive years, ranking us in the top four percent of more than 5,400 charities worldwide evaluated by Charity Navigator.
Our vision is to see a world free of these diseases of poverty by 2020, a goal endorsed by major organizations in the global health community, including the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank and leading pharmaceutical companies.
OUR STRENGTHS
Public-private partnerships
Public awareness and education
Resource mobilization
Capacity building
CONTACT info@sabin.org Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases Sabin Vaccine Institute 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Suite 7100 Washington, DC 20006 Tax ID No.: 06-1389829 Websites: www.sabin.org ; www.globalnetwork.org ; www.end7.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/theGlobalNetworkforNTDs www.facebook.com/endseven Twitter: @Global_Network ; @end_7 Blog: www.endtheneglect.org