By Clifford Akumu
Nairobi, Kenya: The African Union (AU) and Uniting to Combat NTDs have signed an MoU that will see the two organizations collaborate towards ending neglected tropical diseases that still affect 1.7 billion people around the globe.
The two continental bodies announced bold commitments to end neglected tropical diseases across the continent by 2030.
The agreement highlights the AU’s commitment to strengthen collaboration and cooperation among stakeholders to control and eliminate twenty NTDs, achieving the vision outlined by the “Agenda 2063 ‘ Africa We Want'” framework.
This MOU shows bold leadership and the highest level of commitment to NTDs by the African Union, prioritizing them in line with other infectious diseases.
NTDs are a group of twenty diseases including trachoma, intestinal worms, leprosy, and elephantiasis. These diseases are preventable and treatable, yet they still affect 1.7 billion people around the world, with the African continent accounting for about 40% of the total global burden.
Despite the relatively low mortality resulting from NTDs (around 500,000 deaths globally per year) these diseases and conditions are associated with severe complications including blindness, disfigurement, social stigmatization, mental health problems, chronic pain, cognitive impairment, and other long terms irreversible damage causing impediments to education, employment, economic growth, and overall development.
African countries have been making tremendous progress in the fight against these diseases, showing that NTD goals are achievable.
Several member states have achieved ambitious elimination targets, including Ghana, Morocco, and The Gambia eliminating blinding trachoma; Egypt, Togo, and Malawi eliminating lymphatic filariasis; and Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo and Uganda eliminating Guinea worm disease.
However, the job is not yet done. More work is needed to sustain these gains and bring more countries across the finish line. Significant challenges remain in the journey to eliminate NTDs, such as poor integration of and coordination between the various programs working within the NTDs arena and insufficient and unstable funding, as well as climate change, conflict, and emerging threats like COVID-19.
“The African Union Commission is committed to the attainment of Aspiration one, Goal three of Agenda 2063; of well-nourished and healthy citizens. We are committed to working in collaboration with partners in order to progress the elimination of NTDs on the African Continent. We are delighted to be signing this MOU with Uniting to Combat NTDs which will advance advocacy on NTDs. As we have seen, the past two years have been dominated by COVID-19 and other diseases have suffered as a result. It’s good that we are coming together at this time to make progress on these diseases that have not had the attention they deserve.” H.E. Amb. Cessouma Minata Samate
“We have seen how the delivery of essential health services has been impacted by COVID-19, this MOU couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. The new MOU will advance the implementation of the Continental Framework on NTDs and the Common Africa Position, with a strong focus on increased country leadership and ownership of national NTD programs, matched by increased allocation of domestic resources.” Thoko Elphick-Pooley, Executive Director, Uniting to Combat NTDs said.
The Common Africa Position on NTDs will be adopted by the African Union Specialised Technical Committee on Health, Population, and Drug Control at the end of May, paving the way for it to be endorsed by Heads of State at the African Union Summit in 2023.
The announcement of the MOU also comes in advance of The Kigali Summit on Malaria and NTDs, to be held alongside the 26th Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting in Rwanda this June.
At the Summit, Heads of State will launch the Kigali Declaration on NTDs – a high-level, political declaration that aims to mobilize political will and secure commitments to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3) target on NTDs and to deliver the targets set out in the World Health Organization’s Neglected Tropical Disease Roadmap (2021-2030).
