Groundbreaking disease prevention programme is presented to MPs

An international health programme that will protect 200 million people from five debilitating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) has been shared with UK MPs at the House of Commons.

MPs heard about the UK government’s new flagship NTD programme, Ascend, at an All-Party Parliamentary Group event on 22 October. Andrew Murrison, minister of state for the Department for International Development (DFID), spoke about how this ambitious programme will make major strides in treating and controlling these painful conditions.

Key representatives from Sightsavers and Crown Agents, the organisations leading the two parts of the programme, also shared details about how 600 million treatments will be delivered to vulnerable communities across Africa.

Ascend is DFID’s largest NTD programme to date. It aims to distribute life-changing treatment to people in 25 countries to control and eliminate these painful conditions. The three-year programme will change lives by treating conditions such as trachoma, river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis and intestinal worms, which can cause severe pain and long-term health complications.

Sightsavers director of NTDs Simon Bush, one of the experts at the event, said: “The programme is a major event in global health. We are talking about the elimination of the transition of these diseases, and ensuring that treatment is available to all.”

Sunday Isuyaku, Sightsavers’ country director for Nigeria and Ghana, who also attended, said: “We are looking beyond delivering medication and looking at the quality of life. We are not just treating people, we are changing their lives.”

Sightsavers is leading the West and Central Africa part of Ascend, along with a consortium of partners including Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Mott MacDonald.