During a ceremony organized under the auspices of the African Union and the World Health Organization (WHO) and on the sidelines of the 78th World Health Assembly in Geneva, representatives from six African countries – Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan– signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at eliminating visceral leishmaniasis, one of the deadliest neglected diseases.
During the event, the six African signatory countries were joined by Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania to call for improved cross-border cooperation and concrete collaborative actions to tackle other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
Visceral leishmaniasis, also known as kala-azar, is one of the deadliest parasitic killers after malaria. It causes fever, extreme fatigue, weight loss, spleen and liver enlargement, and death if left untreated. Over 70% of the global burden is in the Eastern African region, where half of affected people are children under 15.
NTDs in general affect more than 1 billion people each year and disproportionately impact already vulnerable and impoverished communities. However, significant progress has been made over the past decade: As of May 2025, 56 countries have eliminated at least one NTD globally, including Togo (four NTDs) and Benin, Ghana and India (three NTDs). In 2024 and 2025, several other African countries achieved this target for one or two NTDs: most recently, Mauritania, Chad, Guinea and Niger were acknowledged by WHO for eliminating an NTD.
‘As the global community reaches the half-way point towards the roadmap targets and almost one year after we launched a strategic framework for the elimination of visceral leishmaniasis, the critical role of country-led efforts and cross-border collaboration in accelerating elimination cannot be over emphasized,’ said Dr Ibrahima Socé Fall, Director of the WHO Global Neglected Tropical Diseases Programme in his opening remarks.
The signatories of the MoU agreed to invest resources, develop effective strategies at the regional level, and collaborate closely to achieve the targets outlined in the visceral leishmaniasis elimination framework launched by Eastern African countries in June 2024.
During the event organized in Geneva, Ministers of Health from Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria also issued a ‘Call for Action’ to eliminate NTDs in general and were joined by their fellow Ministers who were present.
‘We know that diseases do not stop at borders — and neither should our response. More than 600 million people on our continent remain at risk of at least one of the neglected tropical diseases,’ said Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC in a statement read by Dr Landry Tsague Dongmo, Director of Africa CDC’s Center for Primary Health Care.
‘Africa CDC has been working to enhance cross-border surveillance platforms through the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response framework, in close collaboration with the WHO,’ he added.
Many NTDs are transmitted by animals, and their spread is facilitated by factors such as climate change and population movements; the interconnected nature of these diseases means that cooperation is essential to tackling them. The Call for Action therefore urges endemic countries to work closely together on region-specific strategies, share information and data with their neighbours, and jointly plan and implement health policies.
‘Visceral leishmaniasis patients and their communities urgently need new, improved oral treatments. To reach elimination, we need more medical innovation. The recent successes of South Asian countries, such as Bangladesh, in eliminating kala-azar show that global elimination of this dreadful disease is within our reach, and I would like to commend the inspiring leadership, unity, and commitment shown today by our African partners,’ said Dr Luis Pizarro, Executive Director of the non-profit medical research organization Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).
The event was spearheaded by the African Union Commission, the Global Onchocerciasis Network for Elimination (GONE), and the WHO; it was supported by the END Fund and DNDi.
About DNDi
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is a not-for-profit medical research organization that discovers, develops, and delivers safe, effective, and affordable treatments for neglected populations. DNDi is developing medicines for sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, river blindness, mycetoma, dengue, paediatric HIV, cryptococcal meningitis, and hepatitis C. Its research priorities include children’s health; gender equity and gender-responsive R&D; and diseases impacted by climate change. Since its creation in 2003, DNDi has collaborated with public and private partners worldwide to deliver twelve new treatments for six deadly diseases, saving millions of lives. dndi.org
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