Dr Wendy Harrison of SCI elected Chair of UK Coalition Against NTDs

The Managing Director of SCI, Dr Wendy Harrison, has been elected Chair of the UK Coalition against Neglected Tropical diseases (UKCNTD).

The managing director of SCI, Dr Wendy Harrison, has been elected Chair of the UK Coalition against Neglected Tropical diseases (UKCNTD). The UKCNTD, formed in 2011, is a collaborative partnership between UK organisations actively engaged in implementation, capacity building and research of neglected tropical disease control at scale.

Dr Wendy E Harrison

The Coalition launched at the House of Commons in September 2011, at an event hosted by the Rt. Hon Hilary Benn MP and former International Development Secretary and Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The main focus of the UKCNTD is to build consensus around effective policies and programmes for the elimination and control of all neglected tropical diseases across all stakeholders. The Coalition currently has 12 members including organisations outside of the health sector such as Water Aid who traditionally have not been involved in NTD control.

UKCNTD was instrumental in convening a meeting in January, hosted by Bill Gates, of the CEOs of 13 pharmaceutical companies to raise awareness of NTDs and acknowledge the huge contribution the Pharmaceutical industry has made to NTD control and elimination through the donation of safe and effective drugs.  At this event the UK government pledged £240 million to support NTD control.  

UKCNTD is currently assisting in the organisation of a meeting of NTD partners to discuss global strategies for implementation of control programmes to be hosted by the World Bank in November 2012. Closer to home the UKCNTD support the All Party Parliamentary Group on Malaria and NTDs and is engaged in the discussions around the inclusion of health indicators in the development agenda post 2015 when the Millennium Development Goals expire.