Report of the NGDO coordination group for onchocerciasis control including the support of the group to APOC activities: year 2007

African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) Programme africain de lutte contre I'onchocercose JAF.FACJOINT ACTION FORUM Office of the Chairman JOINT ACTION FORUM Thirteenth session Brussels. Belgium. 4-7 December 2007 FORUM D'ACTION COMMLINE Bureau du Pr6sident JAFl3.10 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH October 2007 Item I 1.(i) of the Provisional Agenda REPORT OF THE NGDO COORDINATION GROUP FOR ONCHOCERCIASIS CONTROL INCLUDING THE SUPPORT OF THE GROUP TO APOC ACTIVITIES ; i l THE NGI'O COORIDINATION GBOUP FOR ONGIIOGEBCIASIS CONTBOL Report to the 13th Session of the Joint Action Forum Report for Year 2007 Group Members: Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW) Christoffel-Blindenmission (CBM) Helen Keller International (HKI) IMA World Health Light for the World Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) Mectizan@ Donation Program (MDP) Mission to Save the Helpless (MITOSATH) Organisation pour la Pr6vention de la C6cit6 (OPC) Sight Savers International (SSI) The Carter Center (GRBP) United Front Against Riverblindness (UFAR) US Fund for UNICEF (t r ,/ rI - a ./ ." m r.- -r--*- x -= E-:-- !r-: r---------:l a7 7 ----= fL-Il f,,t Ili b tliY] l' i' r F r( t. J \ irl T t I Li:- , r! ^-- WHO/PBD Page I 1. INTRODUCTION As mentioned in last year's report, Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW) from Yemen was officially admitted as a new member of the NGDO Coordination Group for Onchocerciasis Control in March 2007, which brings the NGDO Group membership to 13 members. Consequently, the NGDO Group is now involved in controlling onchocerciasis in 23 out of 30 endemic countries in Africa, in all6 endemic countries in Latin America and in Yemen. However, NGDO support is still needed for some projects in Angola, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Equatorial-Guinea. This report, therefore, covers activities undertaken by these 13 NGDO Group members since the 12th session of the Joint Action Forum (JAF12) in Dar-es-Salaam,Taruania. The key activities highlighted include: NG Mectizan@ distribution rn 2006, 29th and,3 sessions of the NGDO Group meetings, NGDO support to onchocerciasis control, Future challenges. 2. NGDO GROUP ACTIVITIES 2.1. Ongoing NGDo-supported Mectizan@ distribution activities in 2006 (Fig. l) In2006 the Group supported a total of 60,152,017 ivermectin treatments as follows: c 45,624,351 million in APOC countries, o 13,626,189 million in former-OCP countries, o 856,279 million in OEPA countries and 45,198 in Yemen. I J I J No. of treatments (million) 70 60 I OEPA I Ex-OCP tr APOC I TOTAL 1 0 1996 1998 2000 2002 Years 2004 2006 Fig. 1: NGDO Supported Treatment with Mectizan@ within the APOC, ex-OCP, OEPA Partnership (Data for 2007 will be known later as treatment is still ongoing in some projects). a a a a WHO/PBD Page 2 Table 1: NGDO-Supported Mectizan@ Treatment within the APOC, ex-OCP, OEPA and Yemen Partnership - 2006 REGION COUNTRY Ultimate Treatment Goal (urG) Annual Treatment Objectives (Aro) Number of Treatments ln 2006 ATO Coverage (%) UTG Coverage lT"l APOC APOC APOC APOC APOC APOC APOC APOC APOC APOC APOC APOC APOC ocP ocP ocP OCP ocP ocP NIGERIA DRC CAMEROON ETHIOPIA SUDAN UGANDA MALAWI TANZANIA CAR LIBERIA CONGO BURUNDI ANGOLA SENEGAL MALI GUINEA GHANA* BENIN TOGO SIERRA LEONE COTE D'IVOIRE OEPA YEMEN ocP ocP OEPA YEMEN TOTAL 174,485 1,762,898 3,446,078 1,290,497 2,559,971 2,873,071 935,396 917,264 N/A 23,332,569 15,659,807 4,856,630 4,066,993 6,082,387 1,314,797 1,490,425 1,773,951 1,500,000 1,635,603 511,950 936,493 22,704,613 10,235,711 4,384,654 4,066,993 1304,243 1,314,797 1,469,425 1,775,580 1 ,182,935 1,169,564 51 1,950 872,384 21,388,934 8,240,282 4,118,551 3,763,944 1,050,322 1,275,432 1,469,951 1,553,416 763,715 826,008 416,963 756,833 94 81 94 93 89 97 99 87 80 71 81 87 lvermectin distribution was not conducted in 2006 97 93 94 74 95 100 72 93 92 53 85 93 16 97 oo 88 80 51 81 81 97 93 94 74 95 100 1,852,130 1,852,130 174,485 1,762,898 3,446,078 1,290,497 2,559,971 2873,071 935,396 917,264 N/A 168,992 1,647,777 3,229,981 957,071 2,444,833 2,879,283 670,759 856,279 45,1 98 60,152,017 1,627,493 88 88 72 93 * Figures for only Ashanti, Eastern, Volta and Western Regions CDTI activities had generally been successfully implemented in 2006 both in APOC and former-OcP countries. The principal exceptions were those areas in conflict or post-conflict where the UTG coverage was less than 65%o, including DRC, Liberia, and Sudan. Burundi, C6te d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone had improved their performance. Finally, ivermectin was not distributed in Angola in 2006 due to delay in ordering ivermectin tablets. Ivermectin treatment figures were low in Yemen in 2006. CSSW has requested technical and financial assistance in order to expand geographical and therapeutic coverage as well as the development of an appropriate strategy to control or even to eliminate onchocerciasis in the country. WHO/PBD Page 3 2.2. The twenty-ninth and thirtieth NGDO Coordination Group meetings The 29th and 30ft meetings of the NGDO Group were respectively held in Oak Brook, USA (6 - 9 March 2007) and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (5-7 September 2007) in conjunction with the Lymphatic Filariasis(LF) NGDO Network and the International Coalition for Trachoma Control (ICTC). Both meetings focused on how to co-implement Community-Directed Treatment with Ivermectin (CDTD with other Neglected Tropical Diseases, notably LF and trachoma. The following is a summary of the key issues, conclusions and recommendations of these meetings o It was recognized that members need to review the flexibility of their mandate in order to allow them to support other NTD initiatives; o Participants recommended that the experience of Group members in using onchocerciasis control as an entry point to primary eye care, Vitamin A supplementation and LF elimination has already proved to be successful and has established community mechanisms which can be used as a basis for other NTD interventions; o Participants need to ensure that new initiatives on NTDs should take into account not only mass drug administration but also address the other disease control interventions, particularly the SAFE strategy for trachoma and morbidity control for LF, as well as rehabilitation of people blinded by trachoma and oncho; o Research has shown the importance of addressing gender issues in the development of programmes at the community level to aid their equity and sustainability. Participants were urged to ensure that these were taken into account as the NTD programmes expand and become more complex; o All countries with two or more NTDs should develop national plans for integrated control as a first step to securing the necessary resources to implement comprehensive control programmes. o The conclusions and recommendations of the working groups stressed the need for improved planning and coordination with all stakeholders. NewNTD initiatives should be built into existing health programmes; o Although appreciating the expectations of donors, national programmes should ensure that their needs and priorities are well articulated, understood and respected by donors and not'donor driven'; o Dr Adrian Hopkins outgoing Chair, handed over the chairmanship of the NGDO Group to Dr Danny Haddad in March 2007. His term will run until March 2009, with Mr Simon Bush as Vice-Chair. WHO/PBD Page 4 2.3. NGDO Group Onchocerciasis Programme Support Statement As of October20OT,treatment costs of 10 NGDO Group members totalling US$5,140,464.67 in2006had beenreceived, with informationpending from the remaining 2 members. Around 85 % ofthis amountwas allocated to APOC countries. In addition to supporting CDTI, the NGDO funds also contributed to the co- implementation of other health interventions such as comprehensive eye care, vitamin A supplementation (VAS), LF elimination, schistosomiasis and trachoma control. 2.4. Future challenges facing the NGDO Group The NGDO Group continues to face some challenges such as Assisting some national programmes to ensure that geographic and therapeutic coverage is maintained at a high level; a o a a Need for NGDO support for those projects which currently have none; The methodology for the integration and co-implementation of CDTI activities within the new NTD initiative; Need for substantial additional funding in order to meet the new demands in the context of integrated activities. 3. CONCLUSION The NGDO Group renewed its commitment to continue supporting CDTI activities in collaboration with other partners. Members will also continue with the integration of CDTI projects and their co- implementation with other health interventions in order to ensure the sustainability of CDTI activities.