Entebbe, 5 November 2009 -- The first Annual Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Control Partners' Meeting organized in the WHO African Region is scheduled to take place from 5 to 6 November in Entebbe, Uganda.

The meeting brings together national NTDs programme managers, WHO programme staff, and major international partners involved in the efforts to control NTD in the African Region.

The meeting will discuss the progress made and challenges faced in the implementation of disease control programmes in the Region, and share experiences across the different programmes and countries. It will also identify priorities for 2010 and come up with recommendations on addressing programme challenges.

Health Ministers from the WHO African Region discussed the issue of scaling up control of NTDs at the recently concluded 59th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa which took place in Kigali, Rwanda.

The meeting adopted proposed actions to scale up NTDs control in the region. These proposed actions include: strengthening health systems, strengthening leadership and ownership of NTD control programmes, streamlining and strengthening national systems of management of medicines, intensifying interventions for the eradication of Guinea worm disease, strengthening surveillance, monitoring and evaluation, as well as working with partners to scale up research and advocacy.

Neglected tropical diseases affect an estimated one billion people in the world, with a disproportionate prevalence of disease in the African Region. NTDs cause blindness, disfigurement and disability and account for an estimated 534,000 global deaths annually.

For more information, please contact :

Technical contact :
Dr Masresha Balcha: Email: masreshab [at] afro.who.int (masreshab[at]afro[dot]who[dot]int) 
Tel: +47 241 39314

Media contact:
Samuel Ajibola; E-mail: ajibolas [at] afro.who.int (ajibolas[at]afro[dot]who[dot]int)
Tel: +47 241 39378