Mumbai — Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan was on Tuesday named by the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases as its first official campaign ambassador in India to help raise awareness of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
Bachchan joins the END7 (to help end seven diseases by 2020) campaign at a crucial time with India at the tipping point of achieving control and elimination of five NTDs affecting 500 million people by 2020.
“India represents 35 per cent of the total global burden for NTDs, causing massive suffering among our poorest citizens,” said Bachchan. “As a parent, I am deeply moved by the devastating toll of NTDs on children and I want to ensure that no Indian child has to suffer needlessly.
“I am proud to serve as the END7 campaign ambassador in India and hope that others will join me in ridding our country of these preventable diseases.”
Bachchan will now play a key role in drawing attention to NTDs as an achievable health priority for India, educating the public about the impact of NTDs and the importance of complying with free NTD treatment programmes, while also encouraging national and state level policymakers to continue making the cost-effective investment in NTD programmes.
“We have already defeated smallpox, guinea worm and polio in India. NTDs can be our next major public health success story, and we are on track to eliminate lymphatic filariasis very soon,” said Anshu Prakash, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. “We are happy that the Global Network is supporting our efforts to control and eliminate these diseases of poverty.”
The seven most common NTDs — hookworm, roundworm (ascariasis), whipworm (trichuriasis), snail fever (schistosomiasis), elephantiasis (lymphatic filariasis), river blindness (onchocerciasis) and trachoma — infect more than 1 in 6 people worldwide. They cause blindness, massive swelling in appendages and limbs, disfigurement, severe malnutrition and anaemia. NTDs prevent children from growing and learning.
“India currently runs some of the largest NTD control and elimination programmes in the world, signalling its commitment to improving the plight of millions of people,” said Dr Neeraj Mistry, managing director of Global Network.
“By continuing to prioritise NTDs and building up the ability to deliver treatments, India can be a global leader in efforts to defeat NTDs once and for all.”
END7 is the first and only global public awareness dedicated to controlling and eliminating the seven most common NTDs and was launched in 2012 by the Global Network, an advocacy initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute.
