This audio recording is of Dr. Neil Squires, Head of Profession for Health at DFID, talking at The International Society for Neglected Tropical Diseases (ISNTD) Coinfections meeting in February 2013. The ISNTD Coinfections meeting was aiming for multidisciplinary progress in global healthcare by exploring the implications of coinfection between NTDs and other communicable diseases, and the potential for synergies from integrating healthcare across diseases. It took place on 13 February 2013 at the Wellcome Trust. The above recording is of one of the four sessions that took place. The other three will be available on UK Health Radio between 29th – 31st March 2013. The full programme is available via the ISNTD website.
The ISNTD is an independent and not-for-profit organisation providing a multidisciplinary global platform to alleviate the burden of NTDs on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable, with the ultimate goal of reaching sustainable healthcare provision & poverty reduction in the developing world. DFID leads the UK government’s fight against world poverty. They run long-term programmes to help stop the underlying causes of poverty and respond to humanitarian emergencies.
The meeting was mentioned in an article published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases in April 2013, titled “Two birds with one stone“. Ideas were presented on how certain diseases could be treated together, since the consequences of communicable and non-communicable diseases seem tightly intertwined in low-income and middle-income countries.
Neil wrote an accompanying blog for the event titled “Co-infections and neglected tropical diseases“, which includes a video address from the Minister of Health of Rwanda, Dr Agnes Binagwaho.
More can be found on NTDs at the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Global Health Observatory. The WHO’s Communicable Disease Global Atlas is also a useful resource for infectious diseases statistics at country, regional, and global levels. The analysis and interpretation of data are further supported through information on demography, socioeconomic conditions, and environmental factors.
In 2011, HEART produced an assignment report titled “DFID support to the control of Neglected Tropical Diseases: The Context“. Focusing on NTDs, this documents reports on landmarks and political commitment, the current status of NTDs, key public health interventions and the funding.
