Report of a WHO meeting on skin-related neglected tropical diseases in West Africa

In order to contribute to improving the promotion and implementation of the integrated approach for control and management of skin-related neglected tropical diseases (skin NTDs) in co-endemic countries in the WHO African Region, the WHO Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases (WHO/ NTD) and the Anesvad Foundation convened a hybrid meeting of experts on skin NTDs from West Africa at the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland on 3–5 October 2022. Several aspects of the current situation and ways forward using integrated approaches and results-based financing were discussed and a number of recommendations were made by consensus.

The meeting brought together some 55 representatives from the health ministries of Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Ghana and Togo, along with NTD focal points and representatives of WHO’s Regional Office for Africa and some of its country offices and WHO headquarters, as well as nongovernmental organizations and other key stakeholders. The meeting heard key testimonies from the field, as well as core considerations from policy-makers and programme implementers. The participants also discussed results-based financing as a basis for future funding support from the Anesvad Foundation.

With focus on the coordination of resources and efforts – the so-called integrated approach to control and management of skin NTDs – the meeting sought to strengthen alliances while ensuring that local field perspectives were properly explored.

Based around the core principles of WHO’s high-level strategic blueprint to control, eliminate and eradicate 20 diseases and disease groups by 2030 – the NTD road map (2020) – and in light of the companion rationale for continued investment in tackling NTDs (2022), reports were presented on progress against the road map targets and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The diseases referred to under the “skin NTDs” banner cause great suffering and lead to significant economic and social hardship for millions of people worldwide. Skin NTDs predominantly affect the poorest communities worldwide, with many co-endemic diseases occurring in one area or region. This has necessitated an integrated approach to their control and management, as detailed in the strategic framework for skin-related NTDs, a companion document to the road map (2022). The skin NTD framework seeks to consolidate all aspects of treatment and management, from training health-care workers to addressing stigma, discrimination and socioeconomic disadvantages that so often compound the clinical aspects of infection.