Skip to Main Content

RTI uses cookies to offer you the best experience online. By and clicking “accept” on this website, you opt in and you agree to the use of cookies. If you would like to know more about how RTI uses cookies and how to manage them please view our Privacy Policy here. You can “opt out” or change your mind by visiting: http://optout.aboutads.info/. Click “accept” to agree.

Accept
RTI International
  • About
    • Office Locations
    • Executive Leadership
    • Corporate Governance
    • Partner with Us
      • U.S. Government
      • Clients and Funding Agencies
      • Industry and Commercial Clients
      • Foundations and Associations
      • Bilateral Agencies and Multilateral Banks
      • Universities and Academic Research Institutions
      • Suppliers and Small Businesses
    • Commitment to Quality
      • RTI's Client Listening Program
    • Ethics and Human Research Protection
    • Living Our Mission
    • Veteran Opportunities at RTI
    RTI staff support the annual Food Bank of Central and Eastern and North Carolina Sort-A-Rama

    About

  • Practice Areas
    • Health
      • Public Health and Well-Being
      • Health Care Transformation
      • Behavioral Health
      • Health Behavior Change
      • Precision Medicine
      • RTI Health Solutions (RTI-HS)
      • RTI Center for Community Health Evaluation and Economics Research
    • Transformative Research Unit for Equity​
      • Equity Capacity Building Hub
      • Social and Economic Justice Research Collaborative
      • Narrative Research and Community Engagement Lab
    • Education and Workforce Development
      • Early Childhood
      • K-12 Education
      • Postsecondary Education
      • Career and Adult Education and Workforce Development
      • Education Policy, Systems, and Governance
      • Education Research Methodologies
      • Education Technologies
    • International Development
      • Energy for Development
      • Environment
      • Global Food Security, Agriculture, and Nutrition
      • Global Health
      • Governance
      • International Education
      • Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning, and Adapting (MERLA)
      • Youth and Economic Opportunity
      • Building Resilience Against COVID-19 in Developing Countries
      • Water
    • Climate Change
      • Clean Energy Technology and Renewables
      • Climate Finance
      • Climate Justice and Equity
      • Climate Planning, Preparedness and Resilience
      • Climate Policy
      • Climate Vulnerability, Adaptation, and Mitigation
      • Economic Impacts of Climate Change
    • Water
      • Food-Energy-Water Nexus
      • Water Quality
      • Water Sector Governance
      • Urban Sanitation
      • Water Service Provider Strengthening
      • Water Resources Management
    • Energy Research
      • Carbon Capture and Utilization
      • Biomass Conversion
      • Natural Gas
      • Energy Efficiency
      • Industrial Water
      • Syngas Processing
    • Environmental Sciences
      • Air Quality
      • RTI Center for Water Resources
      • Urban Sustainability
      • Toxics
      • Building Resiliency in the FEW Nexus
      • Climate Change Sciences and Analysis
      • Environmental Policy
      • Environmental Justice
      • Sustainable Materials & Waste Management Solutions
    • Justice Research and Policy
      • RTI Center for Community Safety and Crime Prevention
      • RTI Center for Policing Research and Investigative Science
      • Child Well-Being and Family Strengthening
      • RTI Center for Forensic Sciences
    • Food Security and Agriculture
      • Market Systems Strengthening
      • Food Safety
      • Food and Nutrition
      • Global Food Security, Agriculture, and Nutrition
      • Climate-Smart Agriculture
      • Agricultural Innovation
      • Obesity Prevention
    • Innovation Ecosystems
      • Innovation Advising
      • Innovation for Economic Growth
      • Innovation for Emerging and Developing Economies
      • Innovation for Organizations
      • Research, Technology, and Innovation Policy
      • Technology Acceleration
    • Military Support
      • Military Behavioral Health
      • Military Health and Human Performance
      • Military Sexual Assault, Harassment, and Domestic Violence Prevention
    RTI International Practice Areas

    Practice Areas

  • Services + Capabilities
    • Surveys and Data Collection
      • Survey Design
      • Instrument Development
      • Survey Methodologies
      • Data Collection
      • Establishment Surveys
      • Health Registries
      • Data Analysis and Reporting
      • Research Operations Center
    • Statistics and Data Science
      • Survey Statistics
      • Environmental Statistics
      • Coordinating Centers for Multisite Studies
      • Analysis and Design of Complex Data
      • Biostatistics
      • RTI Center for Data Science
    • Evaluation, Assessment and Analysis
      • Evaluation Design and Execution
      • Advanced Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods
      • Evaluation, Monitoring, and Assessment
      • Economic Analysis
      • Evaluating Communication Interventions and Campaigns
      • Evidence Synthesis for Policy and Practice
      • Risk Assessment and Prediction
    • Program Design and Implementation
      • Systems Strengthening and Scaling
      • Capacity Assessment and Building
      • Policy Reform Support
      • Curriculum and Teacher Professional Development
      • Interventions and Prevention Programs
      • Implementation Science
    • Digital Solutions for Social Impact
      • Human-Centered Design of Digital Solutions
      • Digital Product Development
      • Digital Communication Campaigns
      • Digital Data Analytics
    • Research Technologies
      • Survey Technologies
      • Data Management and Decision Support Systems
      • Geospatial Science, Technology, and Visualization
      • ICT for Limited-Resource Settings
      • Mobile Applications
      • Web Applications
      • Bioinformatics
    • Drug Discovery and Development
      • Medicinal Chemistry
      • Molecular Design and Cheminformatics
      • Behavioral Pharmacology
      • Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK)
      • In Vitro Pharmacology, Bioassay Development, and High-Throughput Screening (HTS)
      • Isotope Labeling
      • Regulatory Consulting and Support for Medical Products
    • Analytical Laboratory Sciences
      • Bioanalytical and Toxicology Research
      • Forensic Sciences
      • Physicochemical Characterizations
      • Metabolomics
      • Proficiency Testing and Reference Materials
      • Quality Assurance and Regulatory Compliance
      • Microbiology
      • Analytical Chemistry and Pharmaceutics
    • Engineering & Technology R&D
      • Biomedical Technologies
      • Decarbonization Sciences
      • Environmental Exposure & Protection
      • Materials & Environment
      • Sustainable Energy Solutions
    Telephone survey data collection at our Research Operations Center

    Services + Capabilities

  • Centers
    • RTI Center for Advanced Methods Development
    • RTI Center for Communication Science
      • Communication Research
      • Communication Design
      • Communication Delivery
    • RTI Center for Data Science
    • RTI Center for Education Services
      • Teaching and Learning
      • Education Leadership
      • Peer Learning Networks
      • Strategic Consulting
    • RTI Center for Forensic Sciences
    • RTI Center for Global Noncommunicable Diseases
      • Program Financing & Economics for NCDs
      • Health Systems Strengthening for NCDs
      • Communication Science and Behavior Change for NCDs
      • Implementation Science for NCDs
    • RTI Center for Newborn Screening, Ethics, and Disability Studies
      • Disability Studies
      • Ethics
      • Newborn Screening
    • RTI Center for Water Resources
      • Water Resources Sectors
      • Water Resources Services
      • Water Resources Tools
    • RTI Global Gender Center
    • North Carolina Center for Optimizing Military Performance
    • NCCU-RTI Center for Applied Research in Environmental Sciences
    • RTI Center for Climate Solutions
    Web of wires connecting points on a board

    Centers

  • Impact
    • Newsroom
    • Insights Blog
    • Events
    • Publications
    • RTI Press
      • About the RTI Press
      • Instructions for Authors
      • RTI Press Collections
    • Projects
    • Global Reach
      • Asia
      • Eastern Europe and Central Asia
      • RTI International India
      • Africa
      • Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
      • Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)
    Fighting NTDs in South Sumatra

    Impact

  • Experts
    • Our Experts
    • In-Depth With Our Experts
    • Related News
    • Experts In the Media
    • RTI Fellow Program
    Experts discussing a project during RTI's Innovation Showcase

    Experts

  • Emerging Issues
    • COVID-19 Research
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Global Health Security
    • Cannabis Research
    • Opioid Research
      • Interventions for Opioid Use Disorders
      • Preventing Opioid Misuse and Overdose
      • Treating Opioid Use Disorders
    • Policing Research and Investigative Science
    • Drone Research and Application
    • E-cigarette Research
    • Zika Virus Research
    • Integrated Governance
    trend graphs on a cellphone screen

    Emerging Issues

  • COVID-19 Research + Response
  • Global Reach
  • Insights Blog
  • Newsroom
  • RTI Press
  • Publications
  • Partner With Us
  • Careers
  • Facebook IconTwitter IconInstagram IconYouTube IconLinkedin Icon
  • Home
  • Impact
  • Newsroom
  • New USAID Program to Help Countries Sustain Efforts to Eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases
Newsroom

New USAID Program to Help Countries Sustain Efforts to Eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases

April 29, 2019
Share
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Linkedin
  • Email

KAMPALA, UGANDA — The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) formally launched Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases | East, a new global program working to strengthen countries’ abilities to control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). RTI International will lead the consortium implementing the program.

Key leaders and stakeholders in the global fight against NTDs gathered today in Kampala, Uganda, to launch the program. Those in attendance included senior USAID officials; Uganda’s Minister of Health and other senior leaders; NTD program managers from participating countries, and consortium partners.

Paul Weisenfeld provides opening remarks at the launch of USAID’s Act to End NTDs | East program in Kampala, Uganda

 

“RTI is honored to partner with USAID in the next chapter of the historic global health success story of NTD elimination,” said Paul Weisenfeld, Executive Vice President for International Development at RTI. “Act to End NTDs | East will solve last-mile challenges and ultimately help countries document the successful elimination of NTDs. These efforts embody RTI’s mission to improve the human condition by turning knowledge into practice.”

The Act to End NTDs program is the next generation of programming that’s really going to advance our efforts to control and eliminate these diseases. While our partner countries can be proud of considerable progress to date, we don’t want to lose momentum. We have big goals that we want to achieve together. Reaching those goals will not be possible without the leadership of our partner country governments to fully commit in the fight against NTDs.

- USAID Public Health Advisor Rob Henry.

NTDs affect more than one billion people around the world, causing disability, child malnutrition, blindness, and reduced productivity. Act to End NTDs | East will target five of the most prevalent—lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, and soil-transmitted helminth infections—through the widespread administration of safe, single-dose medicines. These sustained efforts can lead to control or elimination of the diseases over multiple years. NTDs are also a key part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in Goal 3, Target 3.3.

Building on more than 12 years of USAID-supported efforts to control and eliminate NTDs—including the USAID ENVISION program, led by RTI—Act to End NTDs | East will partner with governments and other stakeholders to build sustainable, country-led NTD programming, with a focus on national planning and financing processes. The program also works with ministries of health and education on school health and deworming programs. Together, these efforts will support countries in their journey to self-reliance, supporting efforts to create sustainable NTD programming within robust and resilient health systems. The program’s activities will take place in 13 countries: Bangladesh, DRC, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Laos, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda, and Vietnam.

“RTI is proud to lead a diverse team of partners to support countries by helping them create effective and sustainable NTD programs that are part of robust and resilient health systems,” said Lisa Rotondo, Director, Act to End NTDs | East, at RTI International. Rotondo, who also leads ENVISION, discussed the impact of NTD efforts in a recent blog post. ENVISION will complete its activities in September 2019.

As the lead organization for Act to End NTDs | East, RTI will leverage its expertise across NTDs; water, sanitation, and hygiene services (WASH); health systems strengthening; education; governance, communication and more to implement comprehensive, sustainable solutions. The team includes five experienced NTD elimination partners from ENVISION: The Carter Center, Fred Hollows Foundation, IMA World Health, Light for the World, and Sightsavers, and adds three new partners: Results for Development, Save the Children, and WI-HER.

Through the efforts of the global NTD community, hundreds of millions are no longer at-risk and many countries are on track to reach their control and elimination goals within the next five years. USAID has already helped several countries achieve NTD elimination:

  • Cambodia, Togo, and Vietnam are among the countries that have eliminated lymphatic filariasis.
  • Cambodia, Ghana, Laos, and Nepal have eliminated trachoma.
  • Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico have been verified free of onchocerciasis.

As more countries prepare for their final push, efforts will focus on the hardest-to-reach and most vulnerable communities, conducting surveys to assess impact, and helping countries complete the World Health Organization’s process to confirm the successful elimination of these diseases.

To learn more about Act to End NTDs | East and RTI’s work to control and eliminate NTDs, please click here.

Act to End NTDs | East was previously announced as the Control & Elimination Program for Neglected Tropical Diseases—Element Two (CEP-NTD).

Paul Weisenfeld

Meet the Experts

Lisa Rotondo Director, Act to End NTDs | East

Media Info

To request an interview, contact our Media Relations team.

  • +1 919 708 8205
  • news@rti.org
Subscribe to RTI

RTI Logo
  • Partner With Us
    • US Government
    • Commercial
    • Foundations & Associations
    • Multilateral Donors
    • Universities
    • Suppliers
  • Site
    • Privacy Policy
    • Security Policy
    • Site Map
    • Terms of Use
    • Accessibility
    • Contact Us
Contact Us
Facebook Icon Twitter Icon Instagram Icon YouTube Icon Linkedin Icon
delivering the promise of science
for global good
RTI Health Solutions RTI Innovation Advisors RTI Health Advance

© 2022 RTI International. RTI International is a trade name of Research Triangle Institute. RTI and the RTI logo are U.S. registered trademarks of Research Triangle Institute.