Industry, NGOs Share Joint Progress on Neglected Tropical Disease Control

Industry, NGOs Share Joint Progress on Neglected Tropical Disease Control PR Newswire BERLIN, Sept. 28, 2012 - Successful Public-Private Partnerships Hope to Encourage Increased Private and Public Sector Participation BERLIN, Sept. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Global health advocates and the pharmaceutical industry came together to discuss strategies for improved collaboration and increased private sector involvement in neglected tropical disease (NTD) treatment and control programs. During a workshop in Berlin, experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Verband der forschenden Pharma-Unternehmen (vfa), Merck KGaA, Merck & Co., Inc., Eisai Co. Ltd., Bayer HealthCare, Sanofi, the British Parliament and the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases exchanged new ideas and called for expanded partnerships in order to meet WHO's target to control and eliminate the most common NTDs by 2020. NTDs infect more than 1.4 billion people around the world, including 500 million children, and carry a higher health burden than malaria and tuberculosis. NTDs can have severe effects including blindness, massive swelling in appendages and limbs, severe malnutrition, anemia and pregnancy complications. They are a key contributor to poverty, as they reduce school attendance among children and worker productivity for adults.