Joining forces to eliminate neglected tropical diseases

Leading experts in neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), global health policy, implementation science, and financing will gather at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Italy next month to define new pathways to support country ownership of NTD programs. Convened by The Task Force for Global Health, in collaboration with the Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE), attendees will discuss sustainable and resilient models to address the funding crisis that threatens to unravel decades of gains.

The global NTD community has achieved significant successes over the past two decades, including delivering more than a billion treatments annually and eliminating one or more NTDs in over twenty countries. Much of this progress has been driven by pharmaceutical donations, coordinated donor support, and strong national leadership. However, recent geopolitical shifts—notably, the abrupt cessation of United States Agency for International Development’s NTD program and broader reductions in foreign aid and development assistance—have created a severe gap in program funding and coordination.

This shift highlights the urgent need for a more sustainable model of NTD delivery—one that is integrated within national systems, resilient to fluctuations in donor support, and capable of leveraging diverse financing mechanisms. In short, the NTD community now stands at a pivotal crossroads that demands strategic reflection and bold collective action.

Over the past two decades, the USAID NTD program treated nearly two billion people for these diseases. With several NTD programs, The Task Force for Global Health remains steadfast in its commitment to prevent the resurgence of these diseases and ensure continued access to treatment. Six Task Force programs — the Mectizan Donation Program, the International Trachoma Initiative, Children Without Worms, the Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center, the Focus Area for Compassion and Ethics, and the Health Campaign Effectiveness Coalition — work with partners in affected countries to prevent, control, eliminate and eradicate NTDs. Collectively, these teams and partners have contributed to many significant milestones in the fight against NTDs so far this year. The Task Force’s Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (COR-NTD) continues to play a vital role in advancing elimination efforts, having supported 336 operational research studies across 66 countries, with current work still underway in nine of them despite the current challenges. Notably, trachoma has been eliminated as a public health threat in Burundi, Mauritania, Papua New Guinea and Senegal – all in the past six months with support from the International Trachoma Initiative (ITI).