Press Release
Overlooked Tropical Diseases & Other Threats Topic of House Hearing Chaired by Rep. SmithUSAID, non-government experts testify
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTSs) along with other health threats were the central focus of testimony at a hearing held by the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Africa and global health subcommittee, Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04).
Smith scheduled the congressional hearing, entitled “The Continuing Threat of Neglected Tropical Diseases.” He held a similar hearing on the threat of such overlooked health threats as smallpox, polio, Ebola, kuru and other diseases in June 2013, the year before the 2014 outbreak of Ebola. He also held three hearings in 2014 on the West African Ebola outbreak on August 7, September 17 and November 18.
“Last year, the world witnessed an Ebola disease pandemic that hit six African countries and spread to Spain, Scotland and the United States,” Smith said, noting his concern for administration proposals to cut funding for NTD programs. “In recent years diseases such as dengue fever and chickugunya have spread into the United States. These and other tropical diseases most often victimize the poor who live in tropical climates–whether in Africa, Latin America or parts of the United States. Even in the face of the worldwide challenge these tropical diseases pose, the Administration has proposed cutting the budget in this area by 17 percent.”
NTDs are a group of 17 designated parasitic and bacterial diseases which blind, disable, disfigure, and sometimes kill sufferers among more than one billion people in the world. The list ranges from chagas to rabies to leprosy to dengue fever. Smith noted, however, there are others not on this list of 17 diseases that also receive too little attention. These include such diseases as polio and smallpox (which have largely been eliminated), and often fatal, fortunately rare NTDs, such as kuru. Prior to last year, that list of rare diseases included Ebola.
Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream “More than 10,000 people have died of Ebola worldwide thus far,” Smith said. “Although only one person died in this country due to that disease, we saw clearly how unprepared our medical services and the rest of the world were initially to deal with a rare disease that had previously been confined to isolated areas in Central Africa. There are other rare diseases–not to mention the recognized NTDs–that can cause havoc if they find their way to populated international transit areas as Ebola did last year. Far too many people live lives of quiet suffering from diseases we must fight more effectively.” Click here to read Chairman Smith’s opening statement.
At the hearing, Smith announced the introduction today of H.R. 1797, The End Neglected Tropical Diseases Act. Among its provisions, the bill calls on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to modify its NTD programming with respect to rapid impact package treatments, school-based NTD programs and new approaches to reach the goals of eliminating NTDs. H.R. 1797 also sets measures to expand the USAID program, including by the establishment of a research and development program.
Testifying before the Smith’s global health subcommittee was Dr. Ariel Pablos-Méndez, M.D., USAID’s Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Global Health, who said that with support from Congress, solid progress has been made in addressing seven diseases–lymphatic filariasis, blinding trachoma, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis and three soil-transmitted helminthes–which represent approximately 80 percent of the global NTDs burden and can be addressed through community and school-based distribution of preventive chemotherapy. He also noted that the success of USAID’s NTD program would not have been possible without the assistance of the pharmaceutical sector.
“In 2014, USAID-supported countries benefited from over $2 billion in donated drugs,” he said, noting that to date, over $8.8 billion has been donated from Merck & Co. Inc., GSK, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck Serono. “This represents an impressive leverage for our budget. We estimate that for every tax dollar spent by USAID, more than $26 in drugs is donated in-country.” Click here to read Dr. Pablos-Mendez testimony.
Also testifying was Dr. Peter J. Hotez, M.D., President of Sabin Vaccine Institute, a physician-scientist, founding Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and head of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, which develops and tests new vaccines for NTDs.
“We have just determined that practically every single person living in extreme poverty is affected by at least one NTD, many of which are chronic and debilitating parasitic conditions,” said Hotez, noting that ascariasis affects 819 million people, hookworm infection 440 million, schistosomiasis 252 million, river blindness 30 million and Chagas disease 7-10 million. “Almost every person living in poverty has at least one of these NTDs, which I sometimes refer to as ‘the most important diseases you never heard of.’”
He is participating in the publication of a “Worm Index” for human development linking NTDs as an actual cause of poverty, because it makes victims too sick to go to work or because it reduces childhood cognition. “The NTDs are one of the stealth reasons why the bottom billion – the estimated 1.2 billion people living on less than a dollar a day - cannot escape poverty.” Click here to read Dr. Hotez testimony.
Nicholas Kourgialis, Vice President, Eye Health, Helen Keller International (HKI), told the House panel that HKI commends the U.S. Congress and USAID for the leadership that has been demonstrated over the past eight years by focusing the attention of the global public health and corporate community on a vital public health issue and for a commitment to achieving the global control and elimination targets for these debilitating diseases. He expressed concerns about the funding level for Neglected Tropical Diseases included in the Administration’s fiscal year 2016 budget request.
“In fiscal year 2014 and 2015, the Congress appropriated $100 million for Neglected Tropical diseases,” he said. “However, in the fiscal year 2016 budget request the Administration has only requested funding for NTD’s at a level of $86.5 million. In order to sustain the current NTD program, I hope that the Congress will restore funding in fiscal year 2016 for the targeted NTD program to at least the level provided in fiscal year 2015. I also urge that the emphasis on the seven-targeted NTD diseases be continued. Enormous progress has been achieved over the past eight years in combatting these diseases, but much work remains to be done during this critical phase when elimination goals are within sight. I am optimistic that funding levels for NTDs will be restored.” Click here to read Kourgialis testimony.
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