MEDIA ADVISORY

African Union Commission Convenes Regional Neglected Tropical Diseases ‎‎(NTDs) Meeting for Central and Eastern Africa ‎

INVITATION TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MEDIA

What: “Regional Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Meeting for Eastern and Central ‎Africa”

When: Wednesday, ‎31 May - Friday, 02 June 2023‎

Where: Novotel Convention and Spa in Antananarivo, Madagascar

Who: The African Union (AU) Commission, in collaboration with the East African Community (EAC), and the Economic Community of Central African States ‎‎(ECCAS) Member States ‎

Background:

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) regularly occur within an area or community (endemic) in 49 AU Member States. ‎They affect more than 600 million people, accounting for about 42% of the global burden of ‎‎NTDs. Socioeconomic factors such as poverty, heightened exposure to vectors, unsafe ‎food and water, reservoir hosts and climate and other poor living conditions exacerbate the ‎spread of NTDs. In some regions of the African continent, socio-political conflicts and ‎internal civil unrest continue to aggravate the spread of NTDs and hamper effective ‎interventions to control and /or eliminate these diseases.‎

If untreated, NTDs can lead to blindness, disfigurement, ‎chronic pain, cognitive and ‎other long-term disabilities, and other irreversible damage that ‎creates barriers to education, ‎employment, economic growth, and stigmatisation, ‎disastrously excluding them ‎from society.‎

There has been a significant political commitment to eliminating NTDs in Africa in the last few ‎decades. In April 2001, African Heads of State at the Abuja Summit recognised the ‎epidemics of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other related infectious diseases as a major health ‎crisis and an exceptional threat to Africa’s development. The leaders called for the ‎containment and reversal of other major infectious diseases as part of the continental ‎agenda to promote poverty reduction, sustainable development and political security. The ‎Abuja call is reinforced by the AU Agenda 2063: “The Africa We Want”, which envisions ‎healthy and well-nourished African citizens free of all diseases, including NTDs.‎‎ ‎

In addition, the AU Commission, at its bi-annual coordination summit in Lusaka in ‎July ‎‎2022, adopted the Continental Framework and Common African Position on NTDs, which ‎‎serve as guiding documents for the fight against these diseases, calling for increased ‎national ‎funding to achieve the goal of elimination. ‎This vision aligns with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 3.3) to end the epidemics ‎of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by 2030. It is also in ‎line with the World Health Organisation’s NTD Roadmap launched in 2020, which calls for a ‎‎90% reduction in the number of people requiring NTD interventions between 2010 and ‎‎2030.‎

To this end, the African Union (AU) Commission, in collaboration with the East African Community ‎‎(EAC), and the Economic Community of Central African States ‎‎(ECCAS) Member States, ‎is ‎‎convening experts on NTD programming for ‎a regional meeting to discuss mobilising ‎domestic ‎resources and ‎strengthening ‎programmes to combat neglected ‎tropical diseases ‎in the ‎Eastern and Central African ‎regions‎.

Objectives:

The main objective is to review the progress made by EAC and ECCAS Member States in domesticating the Continental Framework:

More specifically, the meeting aims to:

1. Raise awareness among key stakeholders of the African Union on the Continental Framework for the Control and Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Africa by 2030 and critical updates.
2. Advocate for national resources by allocating adequate budgets for the operation of NTD programs.
3. Review progress in implementing national programs for the control and elimination of NTDs, documenting successes, lessons learned, bottlenecks and challenges, and opportunities to improve programming in this area.
4. Propose strategies for strengthening NTD programs in the region (national and regional level); and
5. Propose a roadmap for developing a coherent and well-coordinated approach for providing guidance; and
6. Support EAC and ECCAS Member States while implementing the Continental Framework on the Control and Elimination of NTDs.

Expected outcome:

The expected results are as follows:‎

1. Report of the meeting on the implementation status of national programs for the control ‎and elimination of NTDs.‎
2. A clear understanding of the funding gap for NTDs in the Member States.‎
3. Summary of successes, lessons learned, bottlenecks/challenges and opportunities ‎documented during the implementation of the NTD control and elimination programs at ‎the national level.‎
4. Roadmap for strengthening NTD programming in the region, including a coordination ‎mechanism to provide advice and support to the Central and East Africa Member States for ‎successfully adopting and implementing the Continental framework on the control ‎and elimination of NTDs.‎

Participation at the event:

Attendance is by invitation only. Members of the press can submit their request to attend or interview the delegates to the following: 

Prof. Julio Rakotonirina | Director of Health and Humanitarian Affairs Directorate, Department of Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, African Union Commission| E-mail: JulioR@africa-union.org; cc: Abbasl@africa-union.org;

For further media inquiries, please contact:

1. Ms. Whitney Mwangi | Health Policy Communications and Advocacy Specialist, Directorate of Health and Humanitarian Affairs | Department of Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, African Union Commission | E-mail: WhitneyM@africa-union.org
2. Mr. Gamal Eldin Ahmed A. Karrar | Senior Communication Officer | Information and Communications Directorate | E-mail: GamalK@africa-union.org

Information and Communication Directorate, African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@africa-union.org
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