Global context
- NTDs impose a significant burden on the world’s poorest people through mortality, disability, stigma, reduced educational and employment opportunities
- NTDs are both a cause and consequence of poverty. Reducing the burden and impact of NTDs is a key component of promoting economic development and attaining the Millennium Development Goals
- Highly cost-effective interventions are available for several of these diseases supported by long term donations of safe drugs from the pharmaceutical industry
- The development of national plans for NTD control and ensuring endemic country ownership of all NTD control strategies is critical
Our aims
- To raise awareness among UK, European, international policy makers and the broader health community of NTDs as a key barrier to attainment 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 organisations delivering and supporting public health interventions to communities in extreme poverty
- To expand the numbers of organisations committed to supporting NTD control both within and outside the health sector
