It is one of the defining challenges of our time.
During decades of tragic neglect, millions of people in poor developing nations have suffered and died from diseases that are preventable and treatable. Many diseases found only in the tropics have been largely ignored by modern medicine. Causing high infant mortality and lifelong misery, the crushing burden of disease has crippled poor economies and shattered hope for a brighter future.
Now there are bold new initiatives to marshal the financial resources, science and skills needed to fight the deadly and debilitating diseases of developing nations.
For the first time, there is a wide coordinated offensive against the major killers — malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS — and an array of vigorous campaigns against aggressive parasitic diseases that attack internal organs, cause blindness, and disable or disfigure hundreds of thousands of victims each year in poor rural areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
There are many key players joining this challenge — governments and international agencies, foundations, private corporations and lone individuals. All of them share a commitment to providing lifesaving medical advances and practical healthcare solutions to the people who need them most. Actively engaged in research labs, hospitals, field clinics or remote village outposts, each initiative adds its own contribution to this unprecedented global offensive, and has its own exciting story to tell.
As a dedicated non-profit participant in this historic effort, Cielo Productions develops media partnerships with key players, recording essential elements of their missions and producing and distributing broadcast-quality features and documentaries that tell their stories.
Cielo Productions is committed to providing its partners with innovative and compelling media elements — essential tools for fund-raising, archival records, and building awareness and support globally and in the communities where they work.
Carter Center
The Carter Center works in some of the world’s poorest communities to alleviate unnecessary suffering and show people how they can transform their own lives. Using simple, proven techniques, the Center’s initiatives emphasize in-country ownership and measurable results. Underlying all of The Carter Center’s work is the belief that even in the most devastating circumstances, it is possible to build hope and a brighter future with better health.
Guinea Worm Eradication Program
Since 1986, The Carter Center has spearheaded the international campaign to eradicate the debilitating parasitic infection, Guinea worm disease. Without the use of a vaccine or medical treatment, cases of Guinea worm have been reduced by 99.7 percent through simple prevention methods like filtering water and health education. Guinea worm is now poised to become the next disease after smallpox to be wiped off the face of the earth.
Trachoma Control Program
Trachoma is the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness, yet it can be easily prevented through improvements in personal and environmental hygiene. To help fight trachoma, The Carter Center has focused on hygiene education initiatives in 3,000 villages in six countries in Africa.
River Blindness Program
The Carter Center is the only organization battling the parasitic infection river blindness in both Africa and the Americas. Carter Center efforts have led to the delivery of more than 100 million treatments of Mectizan® (donated by Merck & Co.) to help endemic communities prevent further infection and visual impairment from the disease.
Schistosomiasis Control Program and Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Program
The Carter Center targets schistosomiasis (which primarily affects children) and lymphatic filariasis (a disfiguring and shame-ridden disease) through distribution of preventative medication and health education, primarily in Nigeria.
Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative
Through the Center’s Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative, which works to enhance the quality of pre-service training that health workers receive, 90 percent of Ethiopians living in rural areas have greater access to basic disease prevention and health care services.
Malaria Control Program
By distributing 3 million long-lasting insecticidal bed nets in Ethiopia, the Center's Malaria Control Program aims to protect 18 million people at risk for contracting the deadly mosquito-borne infection.
Mental Health Program
Because mental and physical health are interconnected, the Center has led international efforts to reduce stigma and discrimination against people with mental illnesses and to achieve greater equity for mental health in the health care system.
International Task Force for Disease Eradication
The Center is the base for the International Task Force for Disease Eradication. This group of experts has reviewed more than 100 infectious diseases and identified six as potentially eradicable.
Lilly MDR-TB Partnership
The Lilly MDR-TB Partnership is a public-private initiative led by Eli Lilly and Company to address the expanding crisis of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) together with 17 global health and development organizations, academic institutions and private companies. The partnership is pursuing a comprehensive strategy to fight MDR-TB by providing access to medicines, transferring manufacturing technology, training healthcare workers, raising awareness of the disease and providing resources for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of people living with MDR-TB.
Eli Lilly and Company, a leading innovation-driven corporation, is developing a growing portfolio of first-in-class and best-in-class pharmaceutical products by applying the latest research from its own worldwide laboratories and from collaborations with eminent scientific organizations. Headquartered in Indianapolis, USA, Lilly provides answers -- through medicines and information --- for some of the world's most urgent medical needs.
Mectizan Donation Program
The Mectizan Donation Program was established in 1987 to oversee Merck & Co., Inc.'s donation of Mectizan for the control of onchocerciasis worldwide. In 1998, Merck expanded the mandate of the program to include lymphatic filariasis elimination through the co-administration of Mectizan and albendazole, donated by GlaxoSmithKline, in African countries and Yemen where lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis are co-endemic.
Currently, more than 70 million treatments are approved for onchocerciasis in Africa and Latin America and 80 million for lymphatic filariasis in Africa and Yemen each year. The success of both programs is largely due to the partnerships that have evolved in support of both disease control and elimination initiatives.
As the program approaches its 25th year of operation, the potential to eliminate both diseases as public health problems is not only feasible, but increasingly within reach. Our vision is a future free of the debilitating effects of both diseases.
Scripps Research Institute
http://www.scripps.edu/e_index.html
The Scripps Research Institute is one of the world's largest independent, non-profit biomedical research organizations, at the forefront of basic biomedical science that seeks to comprehend the most fundamental processes of life. Scripps Research is internationally recognized for its discoveries in immunology, molecular and cellular biology, chemistry, neurosciences, autoimmune, cardiovascular, and infectious diseases, and synthetic vaccine development. Established in its current configuration in 1961, it employs approximately 3,000 scientists, postdoctoral fellows, scientific and other technicians, doctoral degree graduate students, and administrative and technical support personnel. Scripps Research is headquartered in La Jolla, California. It also includes Scripps Florida, whose researchers focus on basic biomedical science, drug discovery, and technology development.
UNICEF
Improving the health of children is one responsibility among many in the fight against poverty. Healthy children become healthy adults: people who create better lives for themselves, their communities and their countries. Improving the health of the world's children is a core UNICEF objective. Since our founding, we have made significant progress in immunization, oral rehydration to save the lives of infants with severe diarrhoea, promoting and protecting breastfeeding, fighting HIV/AIDS, micronutrient supplementation and health education.
UNICEF has an extensive global health presence, and strong partnerships with governments and non-governmental organizations at national and community levels. UNICEF understands the reasons why children are dying. On a daily basis we work to bring practical solutions to the women and children at greatest risk. UNICEF knows what it takes to ensure the survival and health of children and women.
UNICEF approaches all of the threats to child health - and there are many - with extensive experience, efficient logistics and creativity.
Vestergaard Frandsen
http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com
Vestergaard Frandsen is a rapidly growing company founded in Denmark in 1957. We specialize in complex emergency response and disease control textiles, with a focus on waterborne and vector-borne disease.
Vestergaard Frandsen Corporate Summary
Vestergaard Frandsen is a rapidly growing European company, founded in 1957. We are committed to the goal of basic disease prevention by providing safe drinking water and protection from malaria and other vector-borne diseases. With headquarters in Switzerland and offices in USA, Denmark, India, Ghana, Nigeria, Vietnam, Kenya and UAE, and laboratories and licensed production in India, Vietnam, Thailand and Bangladesh, Vestergaard Frandsen is able to provide a rapid response to complex emergencies and disease outbreaks.
Over the years, we have been associated with most non-governmental organizations and UN agencies, as well as ministries of health in countries worldwide.
Vestergaard Frandsen takes pride in its superior technological and quality standards and innovative products. We are constantly developing new products that complex emergencies require. Precision, Speed of Response, Passionate People, and Imagineering make us the leader in our field.
Vestergaard Frandsen and the Neglected Tropical Diseases
Vestergaard Frandsen innovates for the developing world. With our preventive tools portfolio encompassing vector-borne and waterborne diseases, we aim at targeting all preventable diseases, including neglected diseases.
The preventive interventions offered by Vestergaard Frandsen have the potential to combat 9 out of the 14 NTDs identified by the WHO.
