Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 12-14, 2013 -- His Excellency Dr Keseteberhan Admassu, Minister of Health of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, launched the National Master Plan of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in a high level symposium held at Hilton International Hotel on 12 June 2013. More than 400 participants representing federal government offices, regional health bureaus, and partners attended the meeting. Among the partners, WHO, USAID, DFID, World Bank, Bill & Melinda GATES Foundation, international NGOs and research inistutes and acadamia have been reperesented.

In his opeing remarks, Dr Keseteberhan, underlined that Ethiopia is among the countries with high burden NTDs and emphasized the important role of the Health Extension Program and health Development Army for scalining up NTD interventions. The Minister acknowldged WHO’s and other partners support towards the reduction and prevention of burdnens of NTDs and reiterated FMOH’s commitment to intensfy towards the reduction of burdens of NTDs in Ethiopia.

The WHO Country Representative to Ethiopia, Dr Pierre M’pele Kilebou, underscored that NTDs thrive in places with unsafe water, poor sanitation and limited access to basic health care. Despite the severe pain and life-long disabilities they cause, these disease are often less visible and given a low priority. More than one billion people worldwide are affected by NTDs and Africa is home to about half of the global burden. NTDs disfigure, disable, and account for an estimated half a billion annual deaths globally. Despite this huge impact, very little attention is given to NTDs, though for many of these diseases, simple, safe and low cost interventions are available.

The objectives of the symposium were to officially launch the National Integrated Master plan for the prevention and control of Neglected Tropical Diseases; review the current achievement, identify challenges and opportunities for governments and relevant stakeholders in addressing NTDs and to enhance integrated management of NTDs and co-implementation.

Ethiopia launches National Master Plan on Neglected Tropical Diseases