33 Former Presidents Appeal For International Solidarity In Response To UK

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a global success story, with 43 countries having eliminated an NTD.

However, the UK government has decided to withdraw £150 million in funding to tackle these diseases – funding that would have delivered over 250 million treatments this year alone.

In response, 33 former heads of state have called upon the “international community and humanitarian assistance agencies to mobilize the requisite aid resources in an attempt to avoid further loss of life.”

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) like blinding trachoma and intestinal worms are preventable and treatable, yet they still affect 1.7 billion people around the world. By preventing children from going to school and adults from being able to work, NTDs trap individuals and whole communities in cycles of extreme poverty.

The UK’s decision to withdraw funding effectively abandons over 200 million of Africa’s poorest and most vulnerable people that it promised to support. Out of the 26 countries affected by these aid cuts, 24 are in Africa.

The cuts will mean exiting from supporting interventions against visceral leishmaniasis – a fatal disease that causes swelling of the spleen and liver, 50% of the global burden of which is in East Africa. Similarly, loss of funding to tackle diseases like Guinea worm, blinding trachoma and elephantiasis could cause unnecessary setbacks for the poorest communities in Africa.

In a statement from the Forum for Former African Heads of State and Government, the former heads of state note that the impact “should be evaded through the collective efforts at national, sub-regional and continental levels”.

As African countries continue to manage the pandemic, it is essential that national governments can continue work with partners such as the UK to protect and support vulnerable people on the continent. The Africa Forum is prepared to work collaboratively “to mobilize support, particularly regarding to access to medical care and supplies, infrastructure, and quality health education as well as food and nutrition for those living in Africa”.

Please find the full statement from the Forum for Former African Heads of State and Government below:

 We, the members of the Forum for Former African Heads of State and Government and other Institutions (Africa Forum), have come together to share our experiences and our moral authority for the benefit of the people of Africa.

Having continuously worked to support the implementation of the overall objective of the

African Union (AU) and its policy-making organs, we are very disturbed by the persisting and devastating effect of the communicable, such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, the noncommunicable or chronic diseases like heart disease and cervical cancer, as well as the neglected tropical diseases like blinding trachoma, leprosy, elephantiasis, and Guinea worm disease, and last but not least the multiple epidemics and pandemics such as Ebola and COVID- 19 that have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives of our people each year.

We, at the Africa Forum, have recognized that the regions in Africa affected by the higher emergence and re-emergence of diseases have revealed problems essentially related to poverty, exclusion, and poor healthcare leading to exacerbate health problems and deteriorating peace and security desecration thus articulating the impact of the pandemics and diseases on governance, peace, and security on the continent.

 We express our solidarity with and commitment to helping the AUC, governments, and people of the sub-region to mobilize resources and all the required support to alleviate further suffering and to mitigate the impact of the communicable, noncommunicable, neglected tropical diseases and pandemics.

The Africa Forum feels strongly that such a ferocious calamity should be evaded through the collective efforts at national, sub-regional, and continental levels including necessary technical and expert support in the form of early warning by those who have the capacity to do so. We commend the determination by the African governments and institutions within the framework of the AU to cautiously minimize the health impact, as well as the social disruption and economic consequences of the pandemics and diseases.