The MENTOR Initiative has been working to reduce the burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases for around 13 years across a wide range of contexts. Conflict, displacements, flooding, and a lack of infrastructure are some of the challenges our teams have faced to ensure NTD control activities reach underserved communities with limited access to healthcare.
Working in close partnership with local health authorities and donor organisations we focus on a package of activities to reach people most at risk from these debilitating and often disfiguring diseases.
This World NTD Day we look at key achievements from the work we supported in 2023:
▪ In South Sudan we supported the distribution of treatments targeting lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis to over 740,000 people through a Mass Drug Administration. We also trained around 680 supervisors and 5,843 community drug administrators to carry out this work in seven counties.
▪ Mass Drug Administrations were also carried out in eight provinces of Angola. Over 5 million treatments in total were given to tackle schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis, soil transmitted helminths and lymphatic filariasis.
▪ Community and school-based hygiene promotion, house-to-house visits, and the distribution of nearly 20,000 lids for water containers reached around a million people in Venezuela at risk of dengue fever.
▪ Indoor Residual Spraying targeting leishmaniasis-transmitting sandflies in northern Syria reached more than 2.2 million people. 400,000 consultations for visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis took place in health clinics and mobile clinics in hard-to-reach areas.
▪ MENTOR also supported the pilot of RDT to detect Human African trypanosomiasis in Central African Republic, laying the groundwork for a potential highly needed approach to this deadly disease in central Africa.
As we mark the 4th annual World NTD Day, we plan a full year in 2024 with reinforced partnerships and united efforts to act and significantly contribute to eliminate NTDs.