Accelerate: the NTDs IDEA Forum

The disruption to NTD activities caused by COVID-19 may adversely affect progress towards the 2030 NTD Roadmap targets. In order to maintain momentum, we must mitigate the impact of the pandemic on existing programmes and identify modified intervention strategies. There may also be opportunities to accelerate progress, especially in those communities where NTD infection levels remain high despite years of intervention.

This track seeks approaches that not only get programmes back on track, but also intensify and/or expand the scale of interventions to expedite progress towards 2030 disease targets.

Examples include:

• Implementing more intensive MDAs for trachoma in a way that reduces infection in areas where previous progress has been less than expected
• Using real-time data to target more focal interventions for schistosomiasis