Lack of Equitable Access to Drugs that Treat Neglected Tropical Diseases

Problem Statement

Despite the rise in awareness of neglected tropical disease since 2006, when the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases was established, neglected tropical diseases still receive just 0.6% of all official development aid assistance. In our interview several weeks ago, you noted that “there’s not much resources or money left for NTDs” after you account for funding for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

Fortunately, the tools to treat the seven most common NTDs already exist for free, because pharmaceutical companies have already pledged US$ 17.8 billion dollars to provide the drugs necessary to treat these NTDs for free. Yet despite these commitments, 1.4 billion people worldwide still remain infected with NTDs. The dearth of resources to transport the free medication to those who need it has prevented over 600 million people worldwide from receiving the medication that they need to treat at least one of the NTDs that they are infected with. Global Network needs to find new avenues for funding in order to advocate for and mobilize the resources that are needed to connect the free medication with the people who need them.

Global Network’s main problem has been its advocacy approach. Global Network has failed to contextualize its message in the interests of donor countries, such as the US, thereby hampering the impact of Global Network’s advocacy efforts. By framing neglected tropical diseases as a one-dimensional medical humanitarian aid issue, Global Network has limited itself to just traditional sources of global health funding, such as USAID and the Gates Foundation. With its current strategy, Global Network has effectively forced itself to compete for funding with other nonprofits that advocate for other global health issues, including HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.

With development assistance falling from US$ 20 billion to US$ 18 billion between 2010 and 2012, marking a downward trend in foreign aid funding, Global Network’s current advocacy strategy will hinder Global Network from acquiring the funding it needs to connect free drugs to treat NTDs with those who need the drugs. Global Network needs to diversify both its advocacy messages and its funding sources to maintain its exponential growth for the next decade.