Activities of the DNTDs
Initiatives 2023 of the Federal Government to combat neglected tropical diseases

On the Federal Government's answer to the Questions of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group
Berlin , 7 September 2023 - In an open letter, the Board of the German Network against Neglected Tropical Diseases reacts to the previous initiatives of the Federal Government to combat neglected tropical diseases and takes up again the answer of the Federal Government to the Question of the CDU/CSU- Parliamentary Group, Printed Matter 20/7155, June 2023. This letter is addressed to the Federal Chancellor, members of the German Bundestag, the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Federal Minister for Health, the Federal Minister for Education and Research and the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development. With five recommendations, the members of the network call for a stronger and more concrete focus on poverty-associated neglected tropical diseases in current debates and decisions on Global Health - Pandemic Prevention - Climate Change - Feminist Foreign and Development Policy.
Read more … Initiatives 2023 of the Federal Government to combat neglected tropical diseases
WHO conference with over 200 partners of the global programme against neglected tropical diseases
+++ Global NTD Programme Partners' Meeting. Stronger Together, Towards 2030
Geneva/Berlin, 14 June 2023. Only three months after his appointment, Dr Ibrahima Socé Fall invited representatives from the global NTD community, countries and donors, implementing and technical partners, academia, patient associations and all other agencies and institutions involved in the fight against NTDs to WHO headquarters. The focus of the two-day conference (12-13 June 2023) was to discuss the way forward in the fight against NTDs based on the WHO-NTD Roadmap 2030. His conclusion: in the future, the WHO Roadmap needs to be adapted to some new challenges, from capturing access to NTD treatments to determining impact; from vertical governance of programmes to horizontal implementation and finally, partner-driven programming needs to be increasingly translated into implementation by national governments. The German Network against Neglected Tropical Diseases also participated in the event and was able to exchange views on future trends.
First visit of the new Director of the WHO Programme against Neglected Tropical Diseases to Germany

Berlin, 08.05.2023 - The new Director of the WHO Programme against Neglected Tropical Diseases, Dr Ibrahima Socé Fall, visited with his delegation representatives from the German Bundestag, the Federal Ministry of Health, Education and Research, and Economic Cooperation and Development. He also discussed the current challenges with stakeholders from pharmaceutical companies and there was an exchange with the board members of the German Network against Neglected Tropical Diseases. This first visit to Germany was very important to underline Germany's role in all future NTD projects.
Mosquito species - transmitting dengue fever, Zika and chikugunya fever - spreading in Europe

Presentation of the study: "Vector-associated infectious diseases in a changing climate - opportunities and limitations of modelling approaches for risk assessment"
Berlin, 10.05.2023 Tropical diseases transmitted by insects may become a risk for people in Germany and Europe in the future, even with moderate temperature increases due to climate change. This is the conclusion of a study by the Medical Biodiversity and Parasitology Research Group at Goethe University/ Frankfurt am Main, commissioned by the German Network against Neglected Tropical Diseases. Prof. Dr. Sven Klimpel and Dr. Sarah Cunze presented their modelling at a Parliamentary Evening. After a welcome by Prof. Dr. Achim Hörauf, Speaker of the DNTDs, Director of the Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology at the University Hospital Bonn, Dr. Georg Kippels MP and Speaker of the Parliamentary Advisory Board of the DNTDs opened the event by emphasising that the NTDs have now been accompanied by the Parliamentary Advisory Board for almost 10 years and mentioned in this context especially the declarations of the G7 states on NTDs. In the following discussion, Prof. Dr. Jonas Chanasit, Lead Arbovirology and Entomology, Bernhard Nocht Institute Hamburg, pointed out how important it will be in the future to cooperate in European networks and to communicate well with good quality data and thus to focus on prevention. The researchers recommend monitoring in the future that includes vector occurrence, prevalence of pathogens, occurrence of human and veterinary cases of disease and is carried out according to standardised methods throughout Europe. Efforts should be made to establish a European reporting system that could improve the data situation. In the case of species that have not yet become indigenous, vector control at early stages of immigration could be considered. Educating the population is also an important goal. The experts of the German Network consider training programmes for diagnostics, prophylaxis (including vaccinations) and therapy of infectious diseases as well as the development of new diagnostics and therapeutics to be particularly important.
Fireside chat 2023 - What is the Federal Government planning to combat neglected tropical diseases?

+ + + Call for an action plan
Berlin, 25 January 2023 - On the occasion of the World Day against Neglected Tropical Diseases 2023, Niels Annen MdB, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Prof. Dr. Helge Braun MdB, Chairman of the Budget Committee, Federal Minister (ret.) discussed ways in which the Federal Government can combat neglected tropical diseases. The discussion was moderated by Prof. Dr. Ilona Kickbusch, founder of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute in Geneva. There are now numerous political declarations of intent to promote the fight against NTDs - Conclusion Communiqué of the G7 countries on the occasion of the Elmau Summit 2022, the Kigali Declaration on NTDs 2022 (signed by Germany as the first Western donor country), Global Health Strategy of the Federal Government 2020, Coalition Agreement 2021.