Ahead of the World NTD Day on January 30, global leaders convened today to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the London Declaration and kick off endorsements to the Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) – a high-level political declaration which aims to mobilise political will and secure commitments to achieve the targets set out in the World Health Organization (WHO) NTD road map 2021-2030 and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target on NTDs.
NTDs are a group of 20 diseases like blinding trachoma, intestinal worms and elephantiasis which are preventable and treatable, but still affect 1.7 billion people around the world. By preventing children from going to school and adults from being able to work, NTDs trap individuals and whole communities in cycles of extreme poverty.
The Kigali Declaration on NTDs will be the successor to the ground-breaking London Declaration on NTDs that was launched in 2012 and expired in 2020. The London Declaration galvanized donor countries, philanthropists, private sector companies, non-governmental organizations, academia and research organisations to come together and commit to prioritising NTDs.