Report of the NGDO coordination group for onchocerciasis elimination including the support of the group to APOC activities

African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) Programme africain de lutte contre I'onchocercose JOINT ACTION FORUM Office of the Chairman JOINT ACTION FORUM Nineteenth Session Brazzaville. Congo. 1l-13 December 2013 JAF-FAC FORUM D'ACTION COMMLINE Bureau du Prdsident JAF 19. l l ORIGINAL: ENGLISH October 2013 REPORT OF THE NGDO COORDINATION GROUP FOR ONCHOCERCIASIS ELIMINATION INCLUDING THE SUPPORT OF THE GROUP TO APOC ACTIYITIES TTIE NGDO COONDINATION GROUP FON ONGHOGENGIASIS ELIMINATION Report to the 19th Session of the Joint Action Forum Report for the year 201,2 - 2013 GROUP MEMBERS: 1. Charitable Society for SocialWelfare (CSSW) 2. Christoffel-Blindenmission (CBM) 3. Helen Keller lnternational (HKl) 4. IMA World Health 5. Lions Clubs lnternational Foundation (LCIF) 6. Malaria Consortium 7. Mectizan Donation Program (MDP) 8. Mission to Save the Helpless (MITOSATH) 9. Organisation pour la Pr6vention de la C6cit6 (OPC) 10. Schistosomiasis Control lnitiative (SCl) 11. Sightsavers 12. The Carter Center (CC) 13. United Front Against Riverblindness (UFAR) 14. US Fund for UNICEF ASSOCIATE MEMBERS 1. Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases (CNTD, Liverpool) 2. lnternational Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) 3. Merck Co. & lnc., , 1. !NTRODUCTION During the reporting period, full and associate members of the Non-Governmental Development Organizations Coordination Group for Onchocerciasis Elimination (NGDO Group) continued their managerial, technical and financial support to onchocerciasis control and elimination activities in 30 out of 38 onchocerciasis endemic countries worldwide through the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC), Onchocerciasis Elimination Programme for the Americas (OEPA) and former Onchocerciasis Control Programme (OCP) and Yemeni Elimination Programme for Onchocerciasis (YEPO) partnerships. This report presents the summary of activities undertaken by the NGDO Group since the last session of the Joint Action Forum (JAF18) in Bujumbura, Burundi as follows: NGDO-supported Mectizan@ distribution in 20L2; Other NGDO Group achievements in 2013; NGDO Coordination Group for Onchocerciasis programme support statemen! and Future challenges. 2. NGDO GROUP ACTIVITIES 2.L. On-going NGDO-supported Mectizan@ distribution activities in2OL2 (Fie. 1) For the first time even, the NGDO Group assisted more than 100 million ivermectin treatments in2OL2, compared to 92 million in 2011- distributed as follows: i. ii. iii iv 72,O88,95L in APOC countries; 28,148,188 in ex-OCP countries; 236,272 in OEPA countries; and 50,050 in Yemen. WHOiPBD Page I WHO/PBD Page 2 120 100 80 50 40 20 tOf\OOIOF{(\OOOOF{oooooooI\NI\NNNN No. treatments (in millions) 0 LNo c)N sfooN fnoo I Yemen I OEPA I OCP I APOC I Total or o F{ N fi1 <t rn r.D N 6 01 O Fr N6 (,r o| o or o| gt ot ot o ('1 0 0 0cnorolotoo)groorool000 Fl F{ F{ F{ rl Fl Fl Fl F{ F{ Fl N N N ,rrrllll,l Fig. 1: NGDO-supported treatment with Mectizano within the APOC, ex-OCP, OEPA & YEPO Partnerships from 1989 to 20L2. This spectacular number of more than 100 million ivermectin treatments assisted by NGDO partners in 2012 resulted mainly from the impressive increase of number of people treated in former OCP countries passing from 13 to 28 million people treated. ln particular, Ghana has increased its treatments, reaching more than 10 million people treated following the improvement of geographical and therapeutic coverage by the Ministry of Health strengthened by APOC and four key partners namely, CNTD, RTI/USAID, Sightsavers and World Vision lnternational. However, the number of people treated in APOC countries with the support of partners has decreased from 73.7 lo 72 million people in 2072. This was caused mainly by NGDOs ending their support to some 5 CDTI projects in DRC (LCIF and HKI respectively in Katanga and Bas-Congo provinces), Nigeria (all 3 HKI-supported States) and Angola (CBM & World Vision). WHO/PBD Page 3 ln the Americas, the Carter Center continues to work with countries and WHO/PAHO towards the elimination of onchocerciasis. ln July 2013, Colombia officially celebrated the notification by the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) as the first country in the world where onchocerciasis elimination has been verified. ln 2013, Ecuador has also requested WHO to send a team of international experts to verify the elimination status in its territory. Special efforts are being undertaken to stop transmission of onchocerciasis in the cross-border areas between Brazil and Venezuela using 4 times per year treatment in certain areas. Ninety-five percent of the population formerly under MDA in the Americas is no longer being treated, and most areas are under post treatment surveillance (PTS). ln June 20L3, WHO/EMRO in collaboration with WHO/HQ/NTD organized a workshop in order to finalize the plan of action and its ownership by the Ministry of Health and Population with the technical support of the Chair of the Technical Consultative Committee (TCC) of APOC as well as members of the Mectizan Expert Committee of MDP. The programme aims to eliminate onchocerciasis in the country by 2020 and has been labelled "Yemeni Elimination Programme for Onchocerciasis" (YEPO) for advocacy purposes. 2.2. Other main NGDO Group achievements in 2013 The Group held its 41't and 42nd regular sessions on26-27 February 2013 and 16 September 20L3 in Atlanta (USA) and Brighton (UK) respectively. The later meeting was abbreviated to one half day and held just prior to the 4th session of Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) NGDO Network. The main outcomes of these meetings included the following: Members unanimously agreed to rename the Group as "NGDO Coordinotion Group for O n ch oce rcio sis E I i m i n ati o n". The Group strongly recommended that onchocerciasis elimination milestones be aligned with the year 2020 NTD goals in order to enrich onchocerciasis advocacy messages with respect to the London Declaration. Mechanisms should be developed for better coordination and planning to reduce the number of meetings and visits to countries by different partners so that country managers are able to manage and scale up their NTD programmes. WHO/PBD Page 4 MDP/Merck encouraged partners and endemic countries to properly forecast the drug needed for oncho and LF elimination in order to inform the manufacturing needs. This is a particular issue with the rapid scale up of LF activities and consideration of twice per year treatment in some onchocerciasis endemic areas. It was also noted that some NGDOs have not been reimbursed as yet, despite providing the paperwork in time and in addition some NOTFs were unaware of the NGDO overhead reimbursement policy. The Group recommended that APOC take the lead in informing the NOTF in writing about the overhead including the JAF18 approval to increase NG DO overhead cost from 7 .5% to 72.5% as from 2OL4. ln order to facilitate the process so that it can be accomplished in the fiscal year, the APOC correspondence should inform the Chair of the NOTF of the process required to claim the overhead cost including the approval and signing by the NOTF of the NGDO claim. The joint APOC/NGDO/MDP/WHO HQ country visit to Angola in 2013 was postponed for 20L4. The Group reiterated the importance of strengthening the Central African Republic (CAR) NOTF, being flexible and bearing in mind the political climate and insecurity that impedes the implementation and coordination of activities in some parts of country. On the matter of effective coordination, the Group noted the recent NTD stakeholders meeting held in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Successful implementation of the NTD plan will only occur if the various stakeholders provide support to strengthen overall NTD coordination capacity with the MOH, building on the relatively strong onchocerciasis infrastructure there. The Group suggested that a follow- up stakeholders meeting be considered with allthe key players in early 20L4. The Group was pleased to learn of the anticipated DFID support to South Sudan for NTDs and encouraged various stakeholders to exercise leadership within the context of CDTI re-launching meeting which took place in July 2013 to facilitate effective collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP). WHO/PBD Page 5 Following the presentation by the Director of APOC on "Updates on APOC Operations" during the 42nd session in Brighton, the NGDO Group expressed a great interest in supporting APOC in the efforts of eliminating onchocerciasis in Africa. The Group suggested that a powerful and innovative advocacy tool like the lnsight 2O2O for trachoma be developed based on key messages from the revised APOC Concept Note, emphasizing the successful elimination areas all over Africa. Due to differences between reported and surveyed coverage data, participants recommended that coverage surveys be undertaken to improve and ascertain quality data during data collection. Members of the NGDO Group who participated in great numbers in the 4th session of the NTD NGDO Network in Brighton noted the increasing profile and visibility of the Network. lt was noted that other NGDO coordination groups had been successful in advocating for increased funding for trachoma mapping, increased awareness of LF morbidity management and disability prevention (MMDP) and the involvement of other sectorial partners such as WaterAid and lnternational Leprosy Elimination Programme (ILEP) in the newly formed NTD consortium. The next meeting of the Group is scheduled from 8 to 9 March 2OL4 in Ougadougou, Burkina Faso. 2.3. NGDO Group Onchocerciasis Programme Support Statement As per 26 September 2013, the financial contribution of the NGDO Group was estimated at U557,298,249.56. One third of this amount was allocated to onchocerciasis elimination activities in former OCP countries (Fig. 2). While this is lower than the financial contribution reported last year (over 59 million), the amount represents reports from only 4 of the 14 current members of the Group. Additional information will be provided at the JAF meeting in Brazzaville. WHO/PBD Page 6 10 000 000,00 9 000 000,00 8 000 000,00 7 000 000,00 6 000 000,00 5 000 000,00 4 000 000,00 3 000 000,00 2 000 000,00 1000 000,00 0,00 APOC ex-ocP Total a2070 fJ2077 .20L2 Fig 2: NGDO-assisted financial contributions to APOC & ex OCP countries between 2010 & 2Ol2 in USS (2012 data are provisional) , 2.4. Future challenges facing the NGDO Group Members of the NGDO Coordination Group for Onchocerciasis Elimination face major challenges: (1) loss of NGDO support to CDTI projects in Angola, DRC and Nigeria, (2) new investments to address the new onchocerciasis elimination paradigm, (3) advocating for more defined African onchocerciasis elimination milestones in the 2020 WHO/NTD roadmap, (4) improving programme performance in some post-conflict and loiasis co-endemic countries, (5) increasing interventions (including moving to six monthly treatment) as needed to interrupt onchocerciasis transmission, and (5) enhanced interactions with lymphatic filariasis elimination objectives (including MMDP), and with the NGDO LF Group. I WHO/PBD Page 7 3. CONCTUSTON The NGDO Group renewed its commitment to the APOC partners to continue supporting CDTI activities, as its resources allow, in solidarity with other members of the partnership. NGDO Group members will also continue promoting the integration of CDTI projects into the existing health systems and their co-implementation with other health interventions (and most especially with LF efforts) through the newly formed NTD NGDO Network in order to ensure scale up of onchocerciasis elimination activities. a