From River Blindness to Neglected Tropical Diseases—Lessons Learned in Africa for Programme Implementation and Expansion by the Non-governmental Partners

After more than 20 years of action against some of the most debilitating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), lessons have been learned by the non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) in the light of changes in programme strategies and partnerships. This article aims to summarise the development of the non-governmental networks supporting the NTD programmes, starting with the original 1992 model to combat onchocerciasis (river blindness), and will review the lessons learned that have equipped the NGDOs to step up their support to NTD control and elimination. At the beginning of the 1990s, a small group of seven NGDOs began to work together to support onchocerciasis control [1]. Today, more than 50 international and national NGDOs (of which 30 collaborate at the international level) work together to control or eliminate five priority NTDs affecting more than one billion of the poorest people [2]. This is a significant contribution to the objectives of World Health Assembly resolutions and the London Declaration on NTDs [3], as well as addressing Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1, “Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger;” MDG 6 “Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases;” and MDG 8, “Develop a global partnership for development.” In 2013, the first annual report of the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases recorded increased treatments and funding and significant progress towards the World Health Organization (WHO)’s roadmap for implementation for control, elimination, or eradication by 2020. This achievement has been made possible by developing networks of NGDOs and partnerships with governments of the endemic countries, with international and bilateral agencies, with drug donation programmes for specific diseases, and with the communities affected by those diseases [4]. By 2011, NGDOs reported support in 125 countries to more than 330 million treatments for five priority diseases: onchocerciasis, trachoma, lymphatic filariasis (LF), schistosomiasis, and soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) [5]. These diseases have effective mass drug administration (MDA) strategies supported by donated or very-low-cost drugs available to control or eliminate them [6,7].