The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Fundación Anesvad, based in Bilbao, Spain, recently convened at WHO's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss cutting-edge strategies to combat neglected skin diseases that continue to impose considerable health burdens on some of the poorest and most disadvantaged communities in the world.
Between 3 and 5 October 2022, representatives of the neglected tropical disease (NTD) community met to exchange best practice and knowledge in order to integrate the management, treatment and overall strategic approach for combating skin NTDs in West Africa.
WHO.Attendees of the WHO meeting to discuss new strategies to tackle skin-NTDs in West Africa.
Bringing together some 55 representatives of the health ministries of Benin, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria, along with NTD focal points and representatives of AFRO and WHO headquarters, as well as non-governmental organisations and other key stakeholders, the meeting heard key testimony from the field as well as core considerations from policymakers and programme implementers. The participants also discussed results-based financing as a basis for future funding support from Anesvad.
With a clear focus on the coordination of resources and efforts - the so-called Integrated Approach to managing skin NTDs - the meeting sought to strengthen alliances while ensuring that local field perspectives were properly explored.
Based around the core principles of WHO's high-level strategy document, Ending the neglect to attain the Sustainable Development Goals: A road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021-2030, and in light of the recently published Rationale for continued investment in tackling NTDs, reports were presented on progress against the goals laid out in the Road map and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
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The diseases referred to under the 'skin NTD' banner cause great suffering and lead to significant economic and social hardship for millions of people worldwide. They predominantly affect the poorest communities in the world, and many diseases may be co-endemic in one area or region. This has given rise to the Integrated Approach, which seeks to bring together all aspects relating to the treatment and management of skin NTDs, from the training of healthcare workers to fighting the stigma, discrimination and socioeconomic disadvantages that so often compound the clinical aspects of infection.
The Integrated Approach is laid out in full in WHO's recently-published skin-NTD strategy framework document, Ending the neglect to attain the sustainable development goals: a strategic framework for integrated control and management of skin-related neglected tropical diseases.
