Dracunculiasis

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--( BUSINESS WIRE )--Global donors at the 2023 Reaching the Last Mile Forum today pledged a collective US$777.2 million to help control, eliminate, and eradicate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), in a landmark push to accelerate progress towards achieving the goals outlined in the World Health Organization’s 2030 roadmap on NTDs. Uniting efforts with NTD-endemic countries, donors answered the urgent call to step up the fight against NTDs in the face of climate change, and to work together to improve the lives of the 1.6 billion people worldwide affected by these devastating yet preventable diseases. The pledging event was hosted by Reaching the Last Mile (RLM), the global health initiative driven by the philanthropy of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The forum took place on the first ever Health Day during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28). His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, UAE, was joined by world leaders including H.E. Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of Tanzania; and H.E. Dr Austin Demby, Minister of Health and Sanitation, Sierra Leone, in a demonstration of endemic country leadership against NTDs. Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and His Highness Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Office of Development Affairs at the UAE’s Presidential Court, which oversees Reaching the Last Mile, were also in attendance, alongside ministers and global health leaders. His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan stated: “ The UAE is proud to host this pivotal conference and expresses gratitude to all those who have seized the opportunity to renew their commitment to end neglected tropical diseases. Today’s demonstration of global solidarity reflects a shared determination to deliver a better and more dignified future for all. Incredible progress over the last two decades has proved that a world free of NTDs is an achievable goal. We warmly thank governments, donors, and partners for standing with us as we strive to achieve it.” Reaching the Last Mile joined with the Gates Foundation and global partners to announce a milestone expansion of the Reaching the Last Mile Fund (RLMF) from $100m to $500m. The expansion will increase the reach of the fund from seven countries to 39 across Africa and Yemen, with the audacious goal of eliminating two NTDs, lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis (river blindness), from the continent of Africa. The funding builds on the pioneering success of the RLMF, which launched in 2017 as a 10-year, multi-donor fund, to establish a model for eliminating the two diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. His Highness Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed Al Nahyan said: “ Today we reaffirm our pledge to eliminate these diseases of poverty, and save and improve lives worldwide. Climate change is already affecting the patterns of infectious diseases and risking the tremendous gains countries have made to date. “ With endemic countries leading the way, the Reaching the Last Mile Fund represents a historic opportunity to free communities across Africa from the threat of two NTDs, and in partnership unlock the potential for a healthier world.” “ Climate change is inextricably linked to poverty and diseases affecting millions,” said Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “ That is why funding for lifesaving healthcare is critical and why we’re joining global partners to build on the tremendous progress of the Reaching the Last Mile Fund to date, and accelerate the elimination of LF and river blindness across Africa and beyond.” Reaching the Last Mile’s new $100m commitment, matching the Gates Foundation’s $100m commitment, represents a five-fold increase over the contributions made, respectively, to the fund at its launch. Further contributions from country and donor partners including Sierra Leone, the Carter Center, Sightsavers, the Children’s Investment Foundation Fund (CIFF), The Helmsley Charitable Trust, the END Fund, and Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company will see RLMF significantly broaden its scope, with the aim of ensuring over 350 million people no longer require treatment for these diseases by 2030. H.E. Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone, said: “ There is clarity of vision as well as growing demand and energy in Africa to see the continent free of NTDs. Political commitment has been sustained and energised through the Kigali Declaration, and through the Continental Framework and Common Africa Position on NTDs, which Sierra Leone is proud to have endorsed. That is why Sierra Leone is proud to pledge towards an Africa free of river blindness and lymphatic filariasis. Neglected tropical diseases cause suffering to millions, and we simply cannot afford to neglect them any longer.” H.E. Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of Tanzania, said: " I am immensely proud to have been at the centre of the launch of this ambitious vision of an Africa free of river blindness and lymphatic filariasis. Tanzania commits to increase domestic contribution for combating NTDs but also counts on continued support from development partners in this endeavor. " While gaps in global funding for NTDs remain, this initiative signifies a crucial step forward in enhancing the health and quality of life not just for Tanzanians, but for all who live on the African continent. Together, we can end these terrible diseases, forging a path to a healthier and brighter future for us all." Over five years the RLMF has provided over 100 million treatments, trained 1.3 million health workers, and established nine laboratories to support NTD surveillance and testing. The fund also played a critical role in interrupting the transmission of river blindness in Niger, an achievement once thought to be scientifically impossible in Africa, and has supported Senegal in nearing this milestone. The wider pledging moment saw new, multimillion-dollar commitments made by organizations including the Anesvad Foundation, CIFF, USAID, Global Health EDCTP3, UBS Optimus Foundation, NALA Foundation, Evidence Action, Helen Keller Intl, and the Fred Hollows Foundation, in addition to the governments of Germany and Belgium. These pledges will help close the funding gap needed to expedite progress towards the WHO roadmap targets which call for at least 100 countries to have eliminated at least one NTD by 2030, and to reduce by 90% the number of people requiring treatment for NTDs. To date, 50 countries have eliminated at least one NTD and 600 million people no longer require treatment. Cases of some diseases that have plagued communities for centuries, such as Guinea worm disease and sleeping sickness, are at an all-time low. However, climate change is affecting the reach and prevalence of infectious diseases like NTDs, threatening to erase elimination gains and stall future progress. The commitments will help finance essential programs and treatments, support new research and innovations, and strengthen frontline health systems and workforces, among other investments. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization, said: " In light of the pledges made today at the 2023 Reaching the Last Mile Forum, I would like to express my profound gratitude to the global community, especially the pivotal leadership role of the United Arab Emirates, led by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “ This commitment is a significant stride towards eradicating, eliminating, and controlling NTDs, aligning seamlessly with the 2021- 2030 NTD road map. The collaborative efforts of countries and global donors exemplify an unwavering dedication to improving the lives of the 1.6 billion people affected by these diseases. This partnership, especially in the face of challenges posed by climate change, represents a beacon of hope and a testament to what can be achieved through united global action" The 2023 Reaching the Last Mile Forum convened more than 450 government ministers, global health and development experts, philanthropists, and civil society leaders to galvanize concrete commitments towards mitigating the effects of the climate crisis on human health. About Reaching the Last Mile Reaching the Last Mile (RLM) is a portfolio of global health programs, investments, and initiatives working towards disease elimination that is driven by the philanthropy of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. Through its partnerships and programs, RLM provides treatment and preventative care in communities that lack access to quality health services, with a focus on last-mile disease elimination. RLM’s mission represents His Highness’s dedication to ending preventable diseases that affect the world’s most vulnerable communities, and to helping millions of children and adults live healthy, dignified lives. https://www.reachingthelastmile.com About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Mark Suzman, under the direction of co-chairs Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates and the board of trustees.

TOKYO, May 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503, President and CEO: Naoki Okamura, "Astellas") today announced that it has committed to supporting the 3rd phase of the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund), together with a cross-sector group of funding partners. The cross-sector group has committed over US$200 million to the GHIT Fund. Furthermore, we have contributed to the GHIT Fund for three consecutive terms since the inception of the GHIT Fund. The GHIT Fund launched in 2013 to leverage Japanese expertise and capability for life-saving health innovations, including drugs, vaccines and diagnostics, to combat infectious diseases including tuberculosis, malaria, neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)*1 prevalent in the world's poorest countries. A public interest corporation registered in Japan, the GHIT Fund is the first international public-private partnership fund (PPP) between the Japanese Government: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, private sector, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome and the United Nations Development Programme. The GHIT Fund has invested about 29.1 billion yen to support approximately 115 projects over the last ten years. The GHIT Fund engages in direct and effective activities, such as the establishment of a public-private partnership mechanism and launching R&D projects utilizing Japanese drug discovery technologies, innovations and investment in diagnostics development. "Astellas is working to solve issues of Access to Health (ATH) through the GHIT Fund which Astellas has been participating in since the 1st phase of the GHIT Fund and is participating in a GHIT-funded consortium*² that aims to develop a potential new pediatric treatment option for schistosomiasis in preschool-aged children." said Naoki Okamura, President and CEO of Astellas. "Astellas is contributing to this development by leveraging our formulation technologies and know-how. In addition, we have contributed to malaria research in collaboration with partners to solve issues of ATH since 2017." *1: About Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of communicable diseases that prevail in tropical and subtropical conditions and affect more than 1.6 billion people, costing developing economies billions of dollars every year. They mainly affect populations living in poverty, without adequate sanitation and in close contact with infectious vectors and domestic animals and livestock. NTDs are a group of 20 infectious diseases – Buruli ulcer, Chagas disease, Dengue/Chikungunya, Dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease), Echinococcosis, Foodborne trematodiases, Human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), Leishmaniasis, Leprosy (Hansen's disease), Lymphatic filariasis, Mycetoma, Onchocerciasis (river blindness), Rabies, Scabies and other ectoparasitoses, Schistosomiasis, Soil-transmitted helminthiases, Snakebite envenoming, Taeniasis/Cysticercosis, Trachoma, Yaws (Endemic treponematoses) . *2: Schistosomiasis and consortium of pediatric formulation for praziquantel Schistosomiasis is one of the most prevalent parasitic diseases in tropical countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. The disease has a particularly high incidence rate among children. The existing "gold standard" treatment for schistosomiasis is praziquantel. However, one challenge is that praziquantel tablets are difficult to administer to preschool-aged children, including infants and toddlers, mainly due to their large size and the drug's bitter taste. Together with a consortium of partners, Astellas has contributed to developing a potential new pediatric treatment option, arpraziquantel, for schistosomiasis in preschool-aged children. Derived from praziquantel, arpraziquantel is a small orally dispersible tablet, with reduction of bitterness. The new formulation was initially developed by Astellas. Arpraziquantel can be manufactured using simple production technology, while holding down production costs, and the tablets are stable even in the hot and humid environment of tropical areas. Astellas has transferred the technology and expertise needed to develop it to a consortium partner in Brazil, thereby helping to build local pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities. In December 2022, EMA (European Medicines Agency) has validated the regulatory application for arpraziquantel and has started its review process. About Astellas Astellas Pharma Inc. is a pharmaceutical company conducting business in more than 70 countries around the world. We are promoting the Focus Area Approach that is designed to identify opportunities for the continuous creation of new drugs to address diseases with high unmet medical needs by focusing on Biology and Modality. Furthermore, we are also looking beyond our foundational Rx focus to create Rx+® healthcare solutions that combine our expertise and knowledge with cutting-edge technology in different fields of external partners. Through these efforts, Astellas stands on the forefront of healthcare change to turn innovative science into VALUE for patients. For more information, please visit our website at . Cautionary Notes In this press release, statements made with respect to current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs and other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements about the future performance of Astellas. These statements are based on management's current assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: (i) changes in general economic conditions and in laws and regulations, relating to pharmaceutical markets, (ii) currency exchange rate fluctuations, (iii) delays in new product launches, (iv) the inability of Astellas to market existing and new products effectively, (v) the inability of Astellas to continue to effectively research and develop products accepted by customers in highly competitive markets, and (vi) infringements of Astellas' intellectual property rights by third parties. Information about pharmaceutical products (including products currently in development) which is included in this press release is not intended to constitute an advertisement or medical advice. SOURCE Astellas Pharma Inc.

COVID-19 probably can be eradicated globally, just like polio, according to research just published in BMJ Global Health. That assumes, however, that a high rate of vaccination occurs globally and that there is a quick response to emerging variants. Nick Wilson, professor of public health at the University of Otago Wellington, in Wellington, New Zealand, public health officials, and colleagues from Adapt Research Ltd. base their conclusion on multiple technical, sociopolitical and economic factors and on the successful eradication of polio and smallpox in the 20th century, as well as several other conditions either regionally or worldwide. That flies in the face of a widespread idea, embraced in much of the world, that COVID-19 is becoming endemic – something society simply must live with. Yet, based on experience with polio and smallpox, these New Zealand public health officials are hopeful. Some of the details for COVID-19 are not yet determined, they admitted, and these were factored into their analysis. They used a three-point scoring system for 17 variables, comparing polio and smallpox (both of which are considered eradicated), and COVID-19. The variables included availability of an effective vaccine, conference of lifetime immunity, reliable diagnoses, low transmissibility, absence of a non-human reservoir of disease, political and public concern, low costs for eradication, a positive benefit to cost ratio, and global cooperation. Based on those factors, they scored the ability to eradicate smallpox at 2.7, COVID-19 at 1.6, and polio at 1.5. By “eradicated” they mean zero incidents, permanently, anywhere in the world. Consequently, they expect obliteration of COVID-19 to be more successful than for polio (for which two of the three serotypes of poliovirus have been eradicated globally), and but not as successful as for smallpox (which was declared globally eradicated in 1980). “While our analysis is a preliminary effort with various subjective components, it does seem to put COVID-19 eradicability into the realm of being possible, especially in terms of technical feasibility,” they concluded. COVID-19 has a somewhat different set of challenges than smallpox and polio, but also has some advantages. The challenges, they wrote, are vaccine hesitancy and the steady emergency of more highly-transmissible variants that may evade immunity and possibly outrun global vaccination programs, making them play perpetual catch-up. “Nevertheless, there are, of course, limits to viral evolution, so we can expect the virus to eventually reach peak fitness, and new vaccines can be formulated,” they explained. “Other challenges would be the high upfront costs (for vaccination and upgrading health systems), and achieving the necessary international cooperation in the face of ‘vaccine nationalism’ and government-mediated ‘antiscience aggression’,” they admit. On the positive side, the entire world is working to vaccinate their populations to halt the spread of COVID-19. Countries have gone to extraordinary lengths to stop the spread, locking down populations, closing borders to unnecessary travel, enforcing social distancing and masking, and harming their economies in the process. Statistica estimated a 2020 global drop in gross domestic product at 4.5%, directly related to COVID-19. That equals approximately $3.94 trillion of lost economic output. For 2021, Statistica estimated a drop of 5.6%, as variants emerge to slow the recovery and many countries still are struggling to vaccinate their populations. Demands for business and personal travel, oil, entertainment, and even textiles all slowed during the pandemic. A combination of vaccination and public health measures is seen as the way out of the pandemic, toward eradication of the disease. Vaccination has been shown effective in multiple diseases, including smallpox and polio, and it’s close to eradicating measles, mumps and rubella, they write. They suggest it can be equally effective against COVID-19. For this pandemic, though, social measures also play an important role. The social constraints imposed during the pandemic, many of which are recurring now, do help control the spread of the virus. They were not a factor in either smallpox or polio, the authors pointed out. Non-vaccination methods are credited with the June 30th World Health Organization’s declaration that malaria is eradicated in China. Guinea worm infection in domestic dogs is close to being obliterated, too, without vaccination. The presence of animal reservoirs of coronaviruses is not considered a viable constraint because interactions between those animals and people are relatively rare. An article last spring in Nature, however, raises some cautions. While cows, ducks, pigs, and even many bats are poor hosts for coronaviruses, ferrets, cats, white-tailed deer and other may harbor the disease and pass in on. Transmission, the author notes, isn’t necessarily easy, though. Of 650 COVID-19 outbreaks in animals recorded by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) as of June 30, 2021, 352 of them were in mink; 102 were in cats; 86 were in dogs. One was in an otter and another one in a ferret. The remaining numbers were made up of large cats (lions, tigers, pumas and snow leopards) and one gorilla. The animals may not show signs of the disease but tended to be tested because of close proximity to people who developed COVID-19. Eliminating COVID-19 may take many years, but it is possible, they maintain. Wilson and his colleagues are careful to note that this study is preliminary and that more extensive research is required regarding how existing measure may be used and whether the benefit is worth the investment.