Donating drugs alone, however, is not enough, and NFSD is committed to intensify
efforts to build a multi-stakeholder initiative in a final push against leprosy. The
extension of the Novartis leprosy commitment is a key part of a new, coordinated
push by a diverse range of public and private collaborators to combat 10 Neglected
Tropical Diseases (NTDs) by 2020. Today, 13 pharmaceutical companies, the U.S. and
U.K. governments, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank and officials
from NTD-endemic countries pledged to bring a unique focus to defeating these
diseases and to work together to improve the lives of the billion people worldwide
affected by NTDs.
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