Addis Ababa. 8 December 2014 – The 20th Session of the Joint Advisory Forum (JAF) of the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) kicked off in Addis Ababa today with the theme, “Building partnerships to achieve the accelerated elimination of Preventive Chemotherapy NTDs in the African Region,” bringing together governments, development partners, civil societies, non-governmental organizations, the research community and academia. 

“We need to fulfil our commitments in the fight against these disfiguring, stigmatizing and fatal diseases,” urged Dr Pierre M’pele-Kilebou, WHO Representative to Ethiopia, speaking on behalf of the Regional Director of the World Health Organization Africa Regional Office. “Moreover,” he added, “We have to scale up our interventions to reach millions of people desperately waiting for support, and this historic meeting will make important decisions in stepping up the battle against neglected tropical diseases.”

Honorable Dr Kesetebirhan Admasu, Minister of Health of Ethiopia, and incoming Chairperson of JAF, also echoed the need to renew and fulfill commitments at all levels – global, regional, national and subnational – in order to meet the mark of ending NTDs by 2020. Dr Kesetebirhan called on all concerned to “End the neglect, integrate, scale up and sustain, and also ensure strong country ownership” as the way forward in the fight against NTDs.

Taking place only a year before the sunsetting of APOC and the establishment of the Program for Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Africa (PENDA), this 20th Session of the JAF is historical. As a mark of this historic stage in the control and elimination of onchocerciasis and other neglected diseases, place in conjunction with the eighth meeting of the Global Alliance for the Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis (GAELF) and the first global meeting of the Soil-Transmitted Helminth (STH) Coalition with the Global Shistosomiasis Alliance. 

Dr Jean Baptiste Roungou, Director of APOC, also called on the need to “Scale up interventions, while at the same time sustaining current interventions in order to avoid recrudescence if we are to achieve the 2020 and 2025 targets.” He also called on the JAF to build on the lessons learned and successes achieved in the implementation of the onchocerciasis program, capitalizing on the strengths of APOC to feed into planning for the way forward. 

Important decisions on the final steps towards the establishment of PENDA are expected to be made at the 20th Session of the JAF, which has brought together important players and partners in the arena of control of onchocerciasis and other neglected tropical diseases, such as lymphatic filariasis, shistosomiasis, and other soil-transmitted helminthes. The deliberations and decisions of the 20th JAF will determine and shape PENDA’s modus operandi.

Health Ministers or their representatives from ten African countries, high level officials from the remaining APOC member countries, representatives from the GAELF, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, Merck Co, the Mectizan Donation Program of Merck & Co. Inc., are among those attending this 20th Session of the JAF.

For more information, please contact

Contact

Dr Chris Ngenda Mwikisa
Manager, Corporate Services
APOC
mwikisac [at] who.int (mwikisac[at]who[dot]int)

or 

Loza Mesfin Tesfaye
Communication Officer
WHO Ethiopia 
Email: tesfayel [at] who.int (tesfayel[at]who[dot]int)

Photos: WHO Ethiopia/ Loza M.