Daily CSR
Daily CSR

Daily CSR
Daily news about corporate social responsibility, ethics and sustainability

‘The Time To Act Is Now’



06/30/2018

Private-public partnership strives to eliminate NTDs by following an action blueprint and meets with success particularly with Trachoma.


Dailycsr.com – 30 June 2018 – NTD is the short form for ‘neglected tropical diseases’ which affects “one billion people in the world. The diseases that fall under this group are either viral, parasitic or bacterial in nature, which are present in “149 countries”, whereby marking 76% of the countries on the globe.
 
The target group of these diseases are most often “impoverished populations”, who do not have clean water access, sanitation facility and “live in close contact with infectious vectors”. NTD can devastate communities, by preventing children from going to school and adults from work or even from attending to their family members.
 
In fact, WHO has identifies several of the NTDs which could either be kept under control, or “eliminated and even eradicated” altogether. The blueprint of NTD management has resulted in “great progress in the fight to beat NTDs”. Trachoma, the “leading infectious cause of blindness” in the world, however, has been the most successful case of this endeavour.
 
Pfizer donated “an antibiotic” as a part of the above mentioned global effort of eliminating the disease all together. In the year of 2011, there were “325 million” trachoma patients in need for treatment, while now the same has been reduced to “182 million”. Moreover, in the course of last year, trachoma has been eliminated in Mexico, Cambodia, Laos, and Morocco. In 2018, Ghana and Nepal too became part of the list.
 
Pfizer reports:
“This incredible progress would not be possible without steadfast partnerships between the public, private and non-profit sectors. Together with over 100 partners, including the International Trachoma Initiative, International Coalition for Trachoma Control, and Uniting to Combat NTDs, we are building upon the successes of 2017 and the first half of 2018 and working to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem worldwide. We are eager to see the further progress that 2018 brings. The time to act is now”.
 
 
 
References:
3blmedia.com