London Declaration

THE LONDON DECLARATION

For decades, partners including pharmaceutical companies, donors, endemic countries and non-government organisations have contributed technical knowledge, drugs, research, funding and other resources to treat and prevent Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) among the world’s poorest populations. Great progress has been made, and we are committed to build on these efforts. 

Inspired by the World Health Organization’s 2020 Roadmap on NTDs, we believe there is a tremendous opportunity to control or eliminate at least 10 of these devastating diseases by the end of the decade. But no one company, organization or government can do it alone. With the right commitment, coordination and collaboration, the public and private sectors will work together to enable the more than a billion people suffering from NTDs to lead healthier and more productive lives-helping the world’s poorest build self-sufficiency. As partners, with our varied skills and contributions, we commit to doing our part to:

We commit to doing our part to:

• Sustain, expand and extend programmes that ensure the necessary supply of drugs and other interventions to help eradicate Guinea worm disease, and help eliminate by 2020 lymphatic filariasis, leprosy, sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis) and blinding trachoma.
• Sustain, expand and extend drug access programmes to ensure the necessary supply of drugs and other interventions to help control by 2020 schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthes, Chagas disease, visceral leishmaniasis and river blindness (onchocerciasis).
• Advance R&D through partnerships and provision of funding to find next-generation treatments and interventions for neglected diseases.
• Enhance collaboration and coordination on NTDs at national and international levels through public and private multilateral organisations.
• Enable adequate funding with endemic countries to implement NTD programmes necessary to achieve these goals, supported by strong and committed health systems at the national level.
• Provide technical support, tools and resources to support NTD-endemic countries to evaluate and monitor programmes.
• Provide regular updates on the progress in reaching the 2020 goals and identify remaining gaps.

To achieve this ambitious 2020 vision, we call on all endemic countries and the international; community to join us in the above commitments to provide the resources necessary across sectors to remove the primary risk factors for NTDs-poverty and exposure-by ensuring access to clean water and basic sanitation, improved living conditions, vector control, health and  education, and stronger health systems in endemic areas.

We believe that, working together, we can meet our goals by 2020 and chart a new course toward health and sustainability among the world’s poorest communities to a stronger, healthier future.