Sh470bn boost for war on NTDs and malaria
Rwanda'S President Paul Kagame addresses the audience at the venue of the summit on malaria and neglected tropical diseases in Kigali on June 23, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Organisations promised to increase support for regional initiatives (such as Goodbye Malaria) and provide new, safe and accessible diagnostics for NTDs such as snakebite envenoming.
- More than 18 billion tablets were donated to NTDs by nine pharmaceutical companies during the Kigali Summit on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases .
The first of its kind event in Africa united world leaders and health think-tanks to respond to the threat of the resurgence of malaria and NTDs aggravated by decline in funding.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who hosted the event, said African countries should mobilise domestic financial resources to cater for quality healthcare.
“If there is one thing the pandemic has taught us, it is that together, through coordinated and collaborative action, we can achieve much more,” he said.
The private sector drummed up its support towards funding, committing to research and local manufacturing as well as incorporating new technologies.
The organisations promised to increase support for regional initiatives (such as Goodbye Malaria) and provide new, safe and accessible diagnostics for NTDs such as snakebite envenoming. More than 18 billion tablets were donated to NTDs by nine pharmaceutical companies.
Pharmaceutical company Novartis backed the Kigali Declaration on eliminating NTDs by pledging to invest in the fight against the diseases. The Switzerland-based NGO promised to pump USD 250million (about Sh29 billion) to cater for novel forms of NTDs treatment and malaria in a span of five years.
The World Health Organization lauded the pledge, saying the financial commitment by the pharmaceutical will be crucial in funding cutting-edge research and development.
“Over the past decade, great progress has been made against NTDs, but there is still a lot more work to be done. Novartis will continue progressing our longstanding commitment to helping realise a world free of NTDs,” said Vas Narasimhan, Novartis’ chief executive.
“Today, by endorsing the Kigali Declaration and pledging to invest USD 250 million, we aim to accelerate progress toward elimination of these diseases, which continue to cause suffering and stigma for millions of people around the globe,” he added
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, who was at the summit also hailed the idea of investment on innovations, saying will help in reducing cases of malaria and NTDs.
“Innovation is needed both in developing new tools and technologies and in ensuring these vital tools reach those communities who need them – where and when they are needed most,” said the CS.
Breaking down how the money will be used, Novartis said in a statement that USD 100 million will be set aside for NTDs, specifically in the research and development for Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, dengue and cryptosporidiosis. The remaining USD 150million will be used for the next-generation of antimalarial drugs and a new formulation for babies under five kilogrammes who, at the moment, have no form of treatment.
The company will work with other research organisations such as the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, the Wellcome Trust and its own Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD).
“We have made progress on a potential first-in-class compound to treat dengue fever, which is currently in Phase I clinical trial. Although this is the most common vector-borne viral disease in the world, there is currently no specific treatment for dengue. Cryptosporidium infection is the most prevalent form of parasitic diarrhoea, a major cause of mortality among young children in developing countries. The NITD has discovered a promising drug candidate, EDI048, currently in Phase I clinical development,” said Narasimhan in a statement.
Other companies that made key pledges include Pfizer, GSK, the Wellcome Trust and BioNTech.
Pfizer made a commitment to extend its antibiotic donation programme until 2030, enabling continued trachoma elimination programmes in more than 19 countries globally. GSK committed to invest 1 billion euros for research and development over the next decade to get ahead of high burden infectious diseases that disproportionately impact low and middle income countries.
The Wellcome Trust committed to delivering 80 million euros worth of funding towards research on snakebite envenoming treatment. BioNTech pledged to scale the mRNA technology even for the malaria vaccine.
