Advocates in G7 Countries Call on Leaders to Step Up to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)
16/06/2025. Kananaskis, Canada. 'Family photo' of G7 Leaders - photo by Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street.
Canada had an opportunity to lead G7 nations to step-up global efforts to address preventable, treatable diseases like NTDs to ensure a healthier world for all.
Canada and G7 allies still have a window of opportunity to step up to the present challenge of NTDs. Preventing and treating NTDs is a public health strategy with a great return on investment.”
OTTAWA, CANADA, June 24, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- On June 15-17, 2025, Canada hosted the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta. Leaders from the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy and Japan were joined by the Chair, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, among dozens of others leaders from invited countries including Ukraine, South Africa and India. Regional bodies (the EU), and leadership from international institutions, such as the UN and the World Bank where also present. While new priorities were set for the meeting only weeks ago, opportunities for multilateral collaboration were sidetracked by bilateral economic agreements, and the Summit was dominated by conflict in the Middle East, which prompted the US President’s early departure.— Tina Lines, Advocacy and Policy Officer, Canadian Network for NTDs
Hosting a G7 Summit successfully in a year of global disruption to our economies as well as to our peace and security is its own win. However, the G7 Summit has fallen short in its utility as a platform to invite civil society to advocate for key global issues and empower G7 Leaders with the tools to collectively address them. As the Civil 7 coordinating organization this year, Cooperation Canada’s Kate Higgins noted, “greater coherence across global governance forums is essential to addressing shared challenges.”
Only a few years recovered from a global pandemic, with a deepening climate crisis, G7 Leaders have failed to prioritize the health of people and planet. NTDs are a critical part of this story. Historically and today, NTD programs are under-resourced. That’s why NTD advocates in all G7 countries (Canada, Italy, Japan, France, Germany, UK, USA) issued a call on G7 leaders to take action on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) by making a collective, multi-year financial commitment to NTDs. This commitment would sustain existing investments and generate new funding for research and development, multilateral entities and support ongoing efforts led by regional partners.
Our G7 Leaders had an opportunity to this year to advance the NTD elimination agenda together. Neglected Tropical Diseases are a group of more than 21 diseases and conditions defined by the World Health Organization. NTDs have a profound impact on public health in more than 100 countries globally, affecting over 1.5 billion people, 1 billion of whom are children. While NTDs disproportionately affect people living without access to primary health care or clean water and sanitation, they are largely preventable and treatable diseases.
With abrupt funding cuts to NTD programs this year, there are serious obstacles to the steady progress being made towards ending NTDs by 2030. Cuts to USAID alone are estimated to result in 30,000 additional deaths due to untreated Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) within one year. Additionally, more than 100 million donated medicines for the prevention and treatment of NTDs are set to expire within the next 9 months if funding for WHO-supported programs continues to stagnate.
And yet, we know that investments in NTD programs and research not only result in better health, they also result in broader economic gains with a high return on investment, estimated at US $405 for every $1 invested in R&D for these diseases. While G7 governments have multiple pressing domestic and global issues to consider, the value of international cooperation has never been clearer. Collective and collaborative investments in high-impact and high-value initiatives like neglected tropical diseases result in better global health security and economic prosperity in and beyond G7 countries.
In the Chair’s note, Prime Minister Mark Carney highlights the role of the G7 to foster partnerships to respond to global challenges now and in the future, and the G7 Leader’s resolve to ensure the safety and security of communities. While the G7 Summit is over, the door is still wide open under Canada’s G7 Presidency to act on behalf of our shared global health security. As an international community, we can continue to make progress on NTD elimination if together we step up, rather than step back from the fight against NTDs.
About the Canadian Network for NTDs (CNNTD): Founded in 2018 by Canadians committed to seeking greater Canadian engagement and contributions towards NTDs globally. Currently, it represents a group of 11 Canadian-based organizations, three international organizations, a WHO Collaborating Center, and 300+ Canadian and international individual members who share a vision of a world without NTDs.
Tina Lines
Canadian Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases
info@cnntd.org
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