Recent news
January 2012
GHTC member launches campaign to eliminate seven major neglected diseases
January 11, 2012 -- This week, GHTC member the Sabin Vaccine Institute launched END7, a new campaign dedicated to eliminating seven major neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) as a public health threat by the end of 2020. END 7 is run by the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, an initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute. It aims to raise awareness about the threat of NTDs and secure funds to help distribute medicine and provide treatment in the poorest communities.
The seven NTDs included in the campaign are elephantiasis, river blindness, snail fever, trachoma, hookworm, whipworm, and roundworm. These diseases cause crippling symptoms including blindness, massive swelling in appendages and limbs, severe malnutrition, and anemia. The Sabin Vaccine Institute works to collaborate with partners from different governments, public and private organizations, and academic institutions in order to conduct the research, development, and advocacy needed to fight these diseases, which infect one in six people around the globe.
The new campaign is working with organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization in order to secure public and private investments that will provide cost-effective treatments needed to fight these diseases. With annual costs of approximately 50 cents to treat and protect an individual from the seven target diseases for an entire year, the END7 campaign is confident that by working with partners across the globe, it can have a large impact in a short amount of time.
“I’m shocked by how much devastation these diseases cause. But what shocks me more is how simple the solution is. Pocket change to provide medicine that can help end not just one disease, but seven," said actor and campaign sponsor Bill Nighy.
The US Government, the UK Government, and many pharmaceutical companies have already made donations to help the campaign.
