Ending Neglected Tropical Diseases

ENDING NEGLECTED TROPICALDISEASESFOR 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.

WHY WE FIGHT NTDS

HealthNTDs can cause blindness, severe swelling of the limbs and even death. For instance, schistosomiasis is the world’s second largest parasitic killer after malaria, 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.

EducationChildren with NTDs are often too sick to attend or perform well in school, while some healthy children miss out on a chance at education because they must care for parents or siblings who have NTDs. Studies have shown that school absenteeism decreases by up to 25 percent when deworming medicine is provided to students.

Economic DevelopmentNTDs are debilitating and prevent adults from working and caring for their families. Evidence suggests that treating hookworm alone can increase future wage earnings by up to 43 percent.

HEALTH/DISEASESMEDICATION

TRANSPOR T

DISTRIBUTION

GLOBAL NET WORKICONS

EDUCATIONUNIVERSAL EDUCATION

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HUNGER AND NUTRITION HUNGER AND NUTRITION

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT REDUCE CHILDHOOD MORTALIT Y

IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH

HEALTH/DISEASES

$

HEALTH/DISEASESMEDICATION

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DISTRIBUTION

GLOBAL NET WORKICONS

EDUCATIONUNIVERSAL EDUCATION

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HUNGER AND NUTRITION HUNGER AND NUTRITION

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT REDUCE CHILDHOOD MORTALIT Y

IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH

HEALTH/DISEASES

$

HEALTH/DISEASESMEDICATION

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DISTRIBUTION

GLOBAL NE T WORKICONS

EDUCATIONUNIVERSAL EDUCATION

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HUNGER AND NUTRITION HUNGER AND NUTRITION

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT REDUCE CHILDHOOD MORTALIT Y

IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH

HEALTH/DISEASES

$

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/DISEASESMEDICATION

TRANSPOR T

DISTRIBUTION

GLOBAL NET WORKICONS

EDUCATIONUNIVERSAL EDUCATION

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HUNGER AND NUTRITION HUNGER AND NUTRITION

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT REDUCE CHILDHOOD MORTALIT Y

IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH

HEALTH/DISEASES

$

HEALTH/DISEASESMEDICATION

TRANSPOR T

DISTRIBUTION

GLOBAL NET WORKICONS

EDUCATIONUNIVERSAL EDUCATION

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HUNGER AND NUTRITION HUNGER AND NUTRITION

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT REDUCE CHILDHOOD MORTALIT Y

IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH

HEALTH/DISEASES

$

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.

Hunger and NutritionAnemia and malnutrition are common side effects of several NTDs. Even when people have enough food to eat, NTDs rob their bodies of nutrients that they need. Children who suffer from anemia and malnutrition are vulnerable to delays in physical and cognitive development.

Women’s EmpowermentMost NTDs have severe effects on women and girls. In particular, pregnant women with anemia caused by intestinal worms have a higher risk for complications including infections, miscarriage and death. More 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.

Together, these seven diseases impact 1.4 billion people around the world. Many are infected with multiple NTDs.

THE 7 MOST COMMON NTDS

*Soil-transmitted helminths

1 Ascariasis (roundworm)*, an intestinal worm infection that 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

Together, these seven diseases impact 1.4 billion people around the world. Many are infected with multiple NTDs.

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.

HEALTH/DISEASESMEDICATION

TRANSPOR T

DISTRIBUTION

GLOBAL NET WORKICONS

EDUCATIONUNIVERSAL EDUCATION

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HUNGER AND NUTRITION HUNGER AND NUTRITION

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT REDUCE CHILDHOOD MORTALIT Y

IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH

HEALTH/DISEASES

$

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

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.

BURUNDI

NTD CONTROL IN BURUNDI

A Story of Partnership

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.

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.

Georgette and two of her children

“When visiting other families in the community, I can see real, positive change since distribution began,” Georgette said.

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

The World Health Organization and its regional affiliates

Pharmaceutical industry

The World Bank

Regional development banks

Governments of countries impacted by NTDs

Governments of countries that support NTD treatment and research

Non-governmental development organizations

Academic institutions Corporations

Faith-based organizations Foundations

Private donors

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.

WWW.END7.ORG

KEY PARTNERS

JOIN US!

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 school-based 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.

WHY SUPPORT THE GLOBAL NETWORK

The Global Network is uniquely positioned to fight neglected tropical diseases over the course of the next decade.

OUR STRENGTHS

Resource mobilization

Public-private partnerships

Public awareness and education

Capacity building

WHY SUPPORT THE GLOBAL NETWORK

The Global Network is uniquely positioned to fight neglected tropical diseases over the course of the next decade.

[email protected]

Global Network for Neglected Tropical DiseasesSabin Vaccine Institute2000 Pennsylvania Avenue, NWSuite 7100Washington, 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