Advocating for neglected tropical diseases in the G7 - Japan

On 12th May 2023, Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases co-hosted a Symposium for G7 Health Ministers' Meeting in Nagasaki, ‘Accelerating Research, Development, Access, and Delivery for Neglected Tropical Diseases’, with GHIT Fund and Nagasaki University ahead of the Health Ministers’ Meeting.

With an audience of over 250 individuals, we discussed the importance of accelerating research and development, access, and delivery for NTDs. We also jointly developed the Nagasaki Outcomes statement calling for the prioritisation of NTDs, more on that here.

We were pleased to moderate a panel session on the importance of coordination and give a presentation outlining opportunities to make NTDs a priority through unified action. I made the case for investing in NTDs and had two rallying calls for G7 leaders:

1.????We can’t achieve universal health coverage without tackling NTDs

2.????We can’t be prepared for the next pandemic if we don’t tackle existing epidemics like NTDs.

Dr Socé Fall, the Director of the Global Programme for Neglected Tropical Diseases at the World Health Organisation, who spoke at the event, stressed that NTDs must be part of the global health architecture, and every partner has a unique role to play in beating NTDs.

It was brilliant to see coverage of the symposium in Japanese press including Yomiuri and NHK, raising the profile of the importance of taking action on NTDs. Congratulations to GHIT Fund and Nagasaki University on this.

Following the event and the G7 Health Minister’s Meeting, the G7 Nagasaki Health Ministers’ Communique was released and included NTDs as part of the global plan for UHC Action Agenda, a positive step. We are pleased to see the commitment to NTDs carried through to the Leaders’ Communique.

During the visit, I was pleased to join Dr Soce Fall in addressing Japanese Parliamentarians, acknowledging the leadership Japan has shown in the fight against NTDs to date and advocating for accelerated action.

Together, we discussed how ending neglected tropical diseases is a measure of equity and universal health coverage, and why ending current epidemics like NTDs must be seen as key to pandemic prevention and preparedness.

A huge thank you to Japanese Parliament for the opportunity and warm reception, and we hope that they will use their voice in upcoming UN High-Level Meetings to unite in our efforts to end NTDs: https://twitter.com/ThokoPooley/status/1659183396357021697?s=20

To finish off the week, we were thrilled to see 40 Parliamentarians representing 24 countries coming together to sign an open letter, calling on G7 leaders to invest in NTDs.

With international press coverage in over 400 publications including Politics Home, Yahoo, and AsiaOne, we were pleased to see the voice of our NTD champions carried far and wide.

What remains is for G7 leaders to follow through their NTD commitments with concrete action and robust resources and to consider our asks in relation to pandemic preparedness and universal health coverage. You can read the full letter from parliamentarians on Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases website.

Over the weekend, the G7 Heads of State released the G7 Leaders’ Communique. We were pleased to see comprehensive commitments to global health, including language on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in the communiqué, where leaders “reaffirm the essential role of universal health coverage (UHC) in addressing various health challenges significantly set back by the pandemic, including [...] neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)”.?Read more about what the G7 Leaders Communique means for global health and NTDs:

We'd like to thank all the inspirational partners we met up with in Japan who are continually pushing for action. Together, we can #BeatNTDs and achieve the targets in the World Health Organization's NTD roadmap and in the Sustainable Development Goals.