Prevention and treatment of neglected tropical diseases: past, present and future

In September 2015, over 220 individuals representing nongovernmental development organizations (NGDOs), donors, ministries of health, WHO and UNICEF convened in Abu Dhabi for the 6 Annual Meeting of the Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) NGDO Network (NNN6), hosted and sponsored by Christian Blind Mission, with additional support from Sightsavers and Emirates. The meeting provided an opportunity to reflect on accomplishments in the prevention, treatment and management of consequences of NTDs, which affect the poorest of the poor. This special supplement includes articles on cross-cutting issues affecting the control and elimination of NTDs, achievements spearheaded by NNN member organizations and priorities for future work. These articles expand on presentations given at NNN6. The introductory article (p.i4), by the current and past chairs, describes the NNN’s structure, accomplishments and future directions. For an example of how NNN’s community works together, the article by Kebede and colleagues (p.i34) presents a case study of how NGDOs and the Ministry of Health, with resources from donors, combined forces to scale-up NTD interventions to treat at-risk populations across the entire nation of Ethiopia. Beginning in 2016, NGDOs will have a larger role in the coordination of NTD activities in the African region with the establishment of a newWHO coordinating entity. The article by Hopkins (p.i28) describes the role and structure of this new entity, called the Expanded Special Project for the Elimination of NTDs (ESPEN), which includes representation of the NNN. The theme of NNN6 was ‘NTDs: post Millennium Development Goals and pre Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’ to advocate for a proposed NTD global indicator for measuring progress towards SDG 3: the number of people requiring interventions against NTDs. Members signed the Abu Dhabi Declaration, affirming their commitment to ‘support data collection for the NTD global indicator,’ ‘support ministries of health to analyze and publish the results of the data collected’ and ‘work in partnership with key stakeholders and decision makers, nationally and internationally, to achieve control and elimination targets through prioritization of NTDs.’ The paper by Fitzpatrick and colleagues (p.i15) presents the case for the NTD global indicator. As the NTD programs continue to scale-up, questions arise regarding the most effective approaches and, as the WHO NTD Roadmap target dates for elimination of NTDs loom closer, new tools are needed to speed up the process. The article by Toledo and colleagues (p.i12) presents a framework for a rapid research response to challenges faced by NNNmember organization initiatives. At NNN6, we celebrated success in bringing to the forefront cross-cutting issues: the need for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to prevent infection; and the need for management of consequences from NTDs. For example, WHO’s global strategy to mobilize WASH resources to sustain gains made in the control and elimination of NTDs was launched and a new toolkit for cross-NTDs morbidity and disability assessment was introduced. A summary of WHO’s global strategy is presented in a paper by Velleman and colleagues (p.i19), alongwith a complementary paper by Waite and colleagues (p.i22), which presents the recent history of collaboration and identifies priorities and mechanisms for enhanced coordination between the NTD and WASH communities. This supplement also includes three articles on stigma and other consequences from NTDs. The first article, by Mieras and colleagues (p.i7), presents the outcomes of a workshop convened by the Morbidity Management and Disability Working Group of the NNN. The second article, by Hofstraat and van Brakel (p.i71), presents the results of a literature review to identify the extent of social stigma related to NTDs, and the third article, by van ’t Noordende and colleagues (p.i53), documents the process undertaken to develop the toolkit for cross-NTD morbidity and disability assessment.