MARKHAM, Canada – Canadian Global Health Organization, Effect Hope, will sign the Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases. This move demonstrates Canadian leadership in action toward neglected tropical diseases, a group of 20 diseases that impact 1.7 billion people globally.
The Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases is a global political declaration that aims to activate political will and garner commitments to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 3 target on neglected tropical diseases and the goals outlined in the World Health Organization’s 2030 Neglected Tropical Disease Roadmap.
“The Kigali Declaration makes a bold call for the world to come together to end neglected tropical diseases,” explained Effect Hope chief executive officer, Kim Evans. Neglected tropical diseases are a consequence and cause of poverty. They thrive where access to clean water, sanitation and healthcare are limited. These diseases disable, disfigure, and sometimes kill,” Evans added.
As a signatory organization, Effect Hope is fully invested in seeing an end to neglected tropical diseases. The organization will ensure that our programs align with the goals stated in the Kigali Declaration and the World Health Organization’s 2030 Neglected Tropical Diseases Roadmap.
This is not the first declaration on neglected tropical diseases signed by Effect Hope. In 2012, Effect Hope was part of the London Declaration that galvanized global action to achieve some of the targets set in the World Health Organization’s first Neglected Tropical Diseases Roadmap. Thanks to that action, forty-three countries have eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease; 600 million people no longer require treatment for neglected tropical diseases. Two diseases, sleeping sickness and Guinea worm disease are at an all-time low.
“We believe in global health equity,” explained Evans. “We cannot achieve global health equity if the 1.7 billion people (1 in 5 of us) affected by neglected tropical diseases continue to experience debilitating illnesses that are preventable and treatable. That’s why we felt it was essential to sign the Kigali Declaration.”
The global community will be celebrating the endorsements of all countries in a pre-summit meeting ahead of the Commonwealth heads of state meeting hosted by the Government of Rwanda later in June.
Effect Hope is one of Canada’s oldest global health organizations and one of the country’s only organizations that are 100 percent committed to supporting people affected by neglected tropical diseases like leprosy.
