In November 2014 the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded a five-year grant (2014-2019) of nearly US$5 million to Sightsavers (and The Task Force for Global Health, acting as a sub-grantee), to run a support centre for Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Uniting to Combat NTDs is a collective of invested, interested and dedicated partners that work together to meet the 2020 goals of the World Health Organization (WHO) for 10 neglected tropical diseases, as set out in the London Declaration. The work of the collective complements WHO’s collaboration with endemic countries and builds on the work of several disease-specific partnerships.
The primary function of the support centre is to assist the key stakeholder groups with coordination, communication, reporting, advocacy and logistics for meetings. This includes supporting the production of an annual scorecard and report on progress; facilitating the business of the stakeholders’ working group; supporting the four working groups of Uniting to Combat NTDs; maintaining the visibility and effectiveness of the collective’s work; and promoting its advocacy and resource efforts.
Biruck Kebede, who leads Sightsavers’ NTD work in Ethiopia, explains how data can help to eliminate diseases such as trachoma.
The Accelerate programme has reached the end of a year like no other. Through a global pandemic, we’ve innovated and adapted our trachoma work to keep on track.
Following rigorous safety measures, we have been able to restart our work fighting disease and saving sight all over the world.
Nigeria is the first Sightsavers-supported country to resume treatments for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) since April due to COVID-19.
We speak to Tropical Data’s data analyst, Sarah Boyd, to find out what she and the team have been working on while travel hasn’t been possible and many of us have been advised to stay at home.
For World Water Week 2020, Sightsavers comes together with the Kenyan ministry of health to advocate for stronger partnerships between WASH and NTD sectors.