A newly released report by the wide-ranging joint London Declaration initiative to fight neglected tropical diseases shows progress in elimination of diseases and the number of people treated. However, in order to reach universal health coverage, efforts have to be intensified, according to the World Health Organization director general. The pharmaceutical industry, meanwhile, said it is ready to live up to its pledge made five years ago and expand donations programmes.

The fifth progress report [pdf] of the Uniting to Combat NTDs (neglected tropical diseases) initiative, seeking to fulfil the 2012 London Declaration on NTDs, a commitment by several entities to eliminate or eradicate 10 NTDs by 2020 and improve the lives of over a billion people, was issued yesterday. The initiative is supported by a wide range of organisations from the pharmaceutical industry, academia, governments, and nongovernmental organisations.

The report titled, “Ending Neglected Tropical Diseases: A gateway to Universal Health Coverage Fifth progress report on the London Declaration on NTDs,” presents progress made in treatment and elimination of a number of NTDs.

In the report, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus listed progress achieved in the elimination of some NTDs and said the WHO has recently validated 10 countries in which lymphatic filariasis (also known as elephantiasis) is no longer a public health issue. Four countries are “onchocericasis-free,” he said, and trachoma has been eliminated as a public health issue in five countries. Human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) is on track for elimination as a public health problem, he said, and dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease) is also poised for eradication.

However, he said, “if we are serious about universal health coverage, we must intensify our efforts and our commitment to control, eliminate or eradicate these diseases by 2020.”

According to the report, over 1 billion people have been reached and treated in 2016. It underlined efforts by industry partners to commit medicines. In 2016, over 2.9 billion tablets for over 1.8 billion treatments were provided to the world’s poorest populations, the report said.

Significant funders have been the United Kingdom Department for International Development (UK aid) and the United States government’s Agency for International Development, as well as philanthropic donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the report said. In April 2017, US$812 million were pledge by donors over the next 5-7 years to end NTDs.

In a press release, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) remarked on the report’s acknowledgment of the innovation efforts made by industry into new treatments and diagnosis for NTDs.

IFPMA members are involved in 109 active research and development projects for NTDs to develop new or improved treatments and vaccines for NTDs, the release said. Some 90 percent of those programmes are done in collaboration with universities, non-governmental organisation, and public and private institutions. IFPMA also called for a strengthening of health systems.