Dear partners, colleagues, and friends,
As we near the end of 2024, I am so grateful to look back on the tremendous strides we have made together this year. Your support and commitment are the cornerstone of our shared success advancing science that answers to the needs of communities impacted by neglected diseases around the world.
As I write, we have just received news that Malawi has become the first country to authorize use of fexinidazole for the most acute and neglected form of sleeping sickness caused by T.b. rhodesiense. With the first patient outside of a clinical trial expected to receive the treatment imminently, we are grateful to our many partners, including WHO, Sanofi, and the HAT-r-ACC consortium, who joined us to develop the safe, simple, all-oral drug to treat both forms of the disease.
Medical innovation can play a vital role in achieving and sustaining the elimination of diseases that trap families and communities in terrible cycles of illness and poverty. At DNDi, we are moving closer to finalizing the development of acoziborole – a new single-dose cure for sleeping sickness – and are proud to have contributed to the new framework to eliminate visceral leishmaniasis in Eastern Africa and to be driving the development of new patient-friendly treatments that are still needed to achieve and sustain visceral leishmaniasis elimination.
Our focus is on delivering new treatments for the most vulnerable. They are also the ones hardest hit by climate change and climate-sensitive infectious diseases. Despite alarming outbreaks of dengue on multiple continents this year, there is still no treatment for the disease. This year, we have consolidated our work with our partners in the Dengue Alliance and advanced pre-clinical profiling of potential treatments that could halt the progression of life-threatening complications. We also worked to determine dengue’s prevalence in a first-of-its-kind seroprevalence study in Africa.
Our role is also to help drive much-needed attention and public resources toward health priorities that disproportionately affect poor and marginalized people. We welcomed the announcement of the G20’s new Coalition for Local and Regional Production, Innovation, and Equitable Access for Neglected Diseases and Vulnerable Populations. Determined that the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic must not be forgotten, and with negotiations on the WHO Pandemic Agreement continuing through the year, our teams spoke out for robust provisions on R&D to ensure equitable access to treatments, vaccines, and other health tools.
Rounding off the year, we were extremely proud to hear our own Dr Monique Wasunna, DNDi’s Africa Ambassador, deliver the keynote address at the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene Annual Meeting. Drawing from her decades of service as a researcher and champion for neglected patients, Monique highlighted the critical role that young scientists from diverse backgrounds can play in creating a more equitable global health order. It was an inspiring call in the face of growing risks to solidarity and progress in global health.
As we close the curtain on 2024, I thank you for your contributions to putting equity at the heart of medical innovation. On behalf of everyone at DNDi, I wish you a happy and healthy new year ahead.
Dr Luis Pizarro
Executive Director, DNDi
