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UAE Calls On The Global Health Community To Advance Progress Towards Neglected Tropical Diseases Through Landmark Commitments Announced At The Reaching The Last Mile Forum

African Media Agency (AMA)/-Several new initiatives aimed at ending NTD’s were announced today at the Reaching the Last Mile Forum, a gathering of the global health community under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

Neglected tropical diseases affect more than 1.5 billion of the world’s most impoverished people and cost developing economies billions of dollars every year. Incredible progress has been made since leaders across sectors signed the landmark London Declaration on NTDs on 30 January 2012 – 31 countries have eliminated at least one NTD, and more than 1 billion people were reached with treatment in 2018.

Despite these gains, the UAE and its partners recognize that much more work to be done. NTDs are responsible for thousands of preventable deaths each year and cause impairments that perpetuate the cycle of poverty by keeping millions of adults out of work and children out of school.
Global health leaders including William Marshall, Co-Founder and CEO, Planet Labs; Daniel Graymore, Head of Global Funds, DFID; Robyn Calder, Executive Director, The ELMA Philanthropies Services (U.S.) Inc; Ellen Agler, CEO, The END Fund; Nassar Al Mubarak, Director, Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi; Khaled Kaddoura, VP, Business Development; ALDAR, Dr Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, UAE Exchange; Alhasan Kaabous Al Zaabi, VP, Operations, Farah Experiences (Miral); Mohamed Al Falahi, Secretary-General, Emirates Red Crescent; Sultan Al Marzouqi,Integrated Transport Center, Abu Dhabi; Dr. Mariella Enoc, President, Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino GesĂą; Saif Al Noaimi, Deputy CEO of ADMM; Dr Ghawiya Al Neyadi, VP Group Medical Division, ADNOC; John Lickrish, CEO Flash Entertainment; Dr. Katey Owen, Director, NTDs, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Bader Faris Al Hilali, Abu Dhabi based philanthropist and Tony Douglas, CEO, Etihad Airways, today gathered to fight NTDs at The Reaching the Last Mile (RLM) Forum at the Louvre Abu Dhabi on November 19th 2019
Her Excellency Reem Al Hashimy, UAE Cabinet Member and Minister of State for International Cooperation, said: “Today, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed has continued to set global health as a national priority. It is part of our humanitarian assistance and international cooperation – funded by one of the highest national rates of giving in the world.”

The initiatives announced today leverage new partnerships to forge pathways towards ending NTDs, including:

WORLD NTD DAY
The inaugural World NTD Day will be taking place on 30 January 2020, the anniversary of the London Declaration. World NTD Day will celebrate the hard-earned gains of the past decade and call for the investment and action needed to eliminate these diseases.

The foundational aims of World NTD Day are to energize and align partners across the NTD community behind a common set of messages and calls to action that drive home the urgent need for political and financial commitments in 2020; to build political will and public awareness in endemic countries, where leadership will be essential; and to establish a sustainable annual moment for the NTD community to drive advocacy for years to come.

Funding for the first-ever World NTD Day will be provided by the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court.

REACHING THE LAST MILE FUND (RLMF) NEW FUNDERS AND PROGRESS
RLMF is a 10-year, US $100 million initiative launched in 2017 by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Department for International Development (DFID). The Fund is also supported by in-kind contributions from GlaxoSmithKline plc and Merck Sharp & Dohme.

Administered by the END Fund, RLMF aims to pave the way for the global elimination of river blindness (also known as onchocerciasis), while also working towards lymphatic filariasis (LF) elimination as a public health problem in countries where these diseases are co-endemic. The Fund operates in seven countries: Mali, Senegal, Niger, Chad, Sudan, and Ethiopia in Africa, as well as in Yemen in the Middle East.
Since launching in 2017, RLMF has focused on ways to accelerate progress. Through extensive mapping exercises and cross-border coalitions, RLMF has enabled countries to better target their treatment campaigns. And by investing in advanced lab facilities, encouraging collaborations amongst partner organizations, and training technicians and health care workers, the Fund is strengthening overall healthcare systems.
In 2018 alone, the RLMF delivered over 13.5 million treatments for river blindness and LF, and trained 76,000 health care workers to help expand treatment and outreach. Several progress announcements are expected in 2020, including reaching stop-transmission in select regions.

Today, the RLMF announced three new funding partnerships:

The ELMA Foundation has made a significant contribution to the RLMF. Robyn Calder, Executive Director of The ELMA Philanthropies said, “We are delighted to invest in and support the Reaching the Last Mile Fund and its mission to pave the way to end two devastating NTDs, which trap communities in poverty. ELMA is committed to partnering with others in the pursuit of NTD elimination and ultimately to secure human dignity for all”.

Bader Faris Al Hilali, an Abu Dhabi-based philanthropist, has committed nearly 3 million USD to RLMF. Speaking about his involvement, Al Hilali said, “I am pleased to support The Reaching the Last Mile Fund and their innovative approach to tackling NTDs, an urgent issue affecting billions of people around the world.”

Planet has committed $1 million USD in kind, making their advanced satellite services available to RLMF for use in mapping activities. “We started Planet to do good in this world and we are thrilled to see applications for our technology extend into the health space. Through our partnership with RLMF we hope to forge new and innovative approaches to tropical diseases work that ultimately improve the health of humankind,” said Planet Co-Founder and CEO Will Marshall. “Many neglected tropical diseases are water borne, and this is a particularly good use-case for our imagery, because tracking them requires frequent monitoring of river systems in remote and difficult to access areas.”
Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of The Reach Campaign.
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