Launch of the UK Coalition against Neglected Tropical Diseases

The Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases (CNTD) is a founding member of the coalition together with Sightsavers, Carter Centre UK, Partnership for Childhood Development and the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative.

The coalition is a partnership between UK organisations actively engaged in the implementation, capacity building and research of neglected tropical disease control at scale. The aims of the coalition are

• To raise awareness among UK, European, and international policymakers and the broader health community of NTDs as key barrier to the achievement of the MDGs and poverty alleviation

• To influence policy decisions to best support effective approaches for the long term sustainable control of NTDs

• To ensure that NTD control is included within national, regional and international health and development frameworks

• To create a strong collective identity within the UK on NTD control, supported by organizations’ delivery and supporting public health interventions to communities in extreme poverty

• To expand the numbers of organizations committed to supporting NTD control both within and outside the health sector

At the launch Professor David Molyneux made a presentation on “Poverty, health and development – neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in the context of the Millennium Development Goals”. Several other key figures in the world of NTD control also made presentations to the meeting including Dr Paul Emerson (Carter Centre UK and Professor at the Emory Rollins School of Public Health), Professor Alan Fenwick (Schistosomiasis Control Initiative), Archana Patel (Sightsavers), Professor Claire Gilbert (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine), Dr Lesley Drake (Partnership for Child Development Coordinator, Imperial College School of Medicine) and Dr Lorenzo Savioli (World Health Organisation).

The meeting also had the opportunity to hear from Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, former Secretary of State for International Development, and to launch the Second Report of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Malaria and Tropical Neglected Diseases on Neglected Tropical Diseases, which highlights the progress made to control the awful consequences of several tropical diseases which afflict millions in Africa and Asia.