There has been a record-breaking achievement in distributing tablets to fight neglected tropical diseases, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation says.<\/p>\n
The effort has ramped up since a key meeting in London five years ago.<\/p>\n
In 2015, one billion people worldwide were treated for at least one tropical disease. Companies have donated seven billion treatments since 2012.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organisation said improving water and sanitation was key to driving further progress.<\/p>\n
The London meeting resulted in a pledge to control or eliminate 10 neglected tropical diseases – including guinea worm, river blindness and trachoma – by 2020.<\/p>\n
Some 170,000 people die from one of the illnesses every year, but their biggest impact is disabling their sufferers.<\/p>\n
In an interview with BBC News, Bill Gates praised pharmaceutical companies for “doing their part in a great relationship” by donating treatment at “a phenomenal scale”.<\/p>\n
Mr Gates said: “None of these diseases are getting worse. They are less neglected than they used to be.<\/p>\n
“We’re behind on some of the very ambitious goals which were set in London for 2020 – but the burden from all these diseases is getting better.<\/p>\n
“And for some, such as lymphatic filariasis (a mosquito-borne worm which causes limbs to swell), there’s been a big reduction in the population we need to treat – from 1.5 billion to one billion people.<\/p>\n
“Guinea worm is close to the end, with only 25 cases last year – though the unrest in South Sudan is making this work harder. But it’s not going to spread back in big numbers.<\/p>\n
“And we’ve had huge progress on sleeping sickness (a parasitic infection which can kill) – with cases now down to under 3,000. This is a fantastic story.<\/p>\n
“It’s a hard area to explain because it’s not just one disease – and there is a certain complexity to the individual diseases.”<\/p>\n
Five of the 10 diseases are tackled with big programmes to distribute multiple drugs, requiring lots of co-ordination to deliver and evaluate treatment in an efficient way.<\/p>\n
Mr Gates was speaking from a meeting in Geneva, where new commitments worth $812m (\u00a3641m) have been made by governments, drug companies and charitable bodies.<\/p>\n
He applauded the UK government’s announcement at the weekend that it would double support for fighting neglected tropical diseases.<\/p>\n
Mr Gates told me: “The UK is a critical donor. As somebody who’s very measurement-oriented, I find that partnering with the UK on these health-related areas is a great way to spend money and lift these countries up.<\/p>\n
“Anyone who gets to see these very tough diseases, and to see the benefit from these initiatives, would be absolutely convinced.”<\/p>\n
Mr Gates, who had a meeting with President Trump last month, described the recent US funding cut to the United Nations Population Fund as “disappointing and unfortunate”.<\/p>\n
He added: “I feel quite confident that when Congress decides the overall aid budget, there won’t be the large cuts to foreign aid that would have been implied by the President’s proposed budget.<\/p>\n
“I don’t know that we’ll get to a situation where there are no cuts – but I think with the support of Congress, we’ll get close to where we’ve been in previous years.<\/p>\n
“I talked to the President about the critical role the US has played in the great progress on HIV, malaria and reproductive health – and in terms of how strong health systems can stop pandemics.<\/p>\n
“We got a glimpse of that with Ebola and Zika.<\/p>\n
“I think I was able to get across the idea that global health matters even in an ‘America First’ framework.<\/p>\n
“The President has proved willing to be pragmatic since he’s been in office – so continued dialogue about development aid will be important.”<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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