By Sabin Admin on Wed, 08/01/2012 – 10:32
END7 campaign fights treatable Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) that infect more than 1 billion people
Washington, DC—August 1, 2012—Celebrities from around the world called on their fans and followers to join the END7 campaign, a global effort to eliminate seven neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by 2020. Music, entertainment and fashion stars, including Katy Perry, Slash, Ewan McGregor, Stella McCartney, Tom Felton, Alyssa Milano, Danny DeVito, Amos Lee, Norah Jones, MC Hammer, Aaron Neville, The Kooks, Rosanne Cash and many others reached out to their Twitter and Facebook fans to help END7 raise awareness about these devastating diseases of poverty that infect one in six people worldwide, including 500 million children.
“Join us in ending 7 diseases by 2020! Follow @END_7 today and find out how to make it all possible!” tweeted pop singer Katy Perry (@katyperry) to her 24 million followers.
“My fans mean the world to me. Today you meant the world to millions of kids suffering with NTDs,” tweeted British actor and a star of the “Harry Potter” movie franchise, Tom Felton (@tomfelton).
“Thousands of you have joined me to help #End7 preventable diseases today. You inspire me!” Felton also posted.
Yesterday’s social media push reached more than 50 million people through Twitter and Facebook, and put the END7 campaign on the map for millions who had never heard about NTDs.
“This week marks a turning point for the END7 campaign, as millions of people are learning just how easy it can be to eliminate or control a group of diseases that plague the world’s poorest people,” said Dr. Neeraj Mistry, managing director of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases. “We are incredibly grateful for all of the new support we have seen over the past week and hope that it continues to inspire others to join our cause.”
It costs just 50 cents to treat and protect one person for an entire year against all seven of the most common NTDs. Pills to treat these diseases are donated by pharmaceutical companies and many programs use existing infrastructure, such as schools and community centers, to administer the treatments, making NTD treatment one of most cost-effective public health initiatives available today.
“See how you can help stop 7 different kinds of diseases with a donation as small as 50 cents,” posted Stella McCartney (@stellamccartney), fashion designer and daughter of Beatles member, Sir Paul McCartney.
NTDs cause blindness, massive swelling in appendages and limbs, severe malnutrition and anemia. These diseases prevent children from growing and learning. They reduce adults’ economic productivity and ability to care for their families, keeping communities trapped in a cycle of poverty and disease.
The END7 campaign, launched earlier this year by the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, an initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, aims to raise the public awareness and funding required to cover the cost of distributing medicine and setting up treatment programs for NTDs. It is the first global public awareness campaign dedicated to NTD treatment and elimination and relies heavily on compelling visual content disseminated through various social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to spread its message.
To see a full list of our celebrity supporters and to learn more about NTDs or to join the END7 campaign, please visit END7 on Facebook. Together we can see the end!
About END7
END7 is a grassroots campaign that seeks to raise money to expand access to NTD treatments and catalyze support for NTD control efforts to encourage major political and philanthropic leaders to increase funding for this important global health issue. The U.K. and U.S. governments, as well as major pharmaceutical companies, have already made significant contributions. END7 works with the World Health Organization and many other global partners.
About NTDs
NTDs are a group of 17 parasitic and bacterial infections that are the most common afflictions of the world’s poorest people. The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases focuses on the seven most common NTDs that account for 90 percent of the disease burden – elephantiasis, river blindness, snail fever, trachoma, hookworm, whipworm and roundworm. They blind, disable and disfigure their victims, trapping them in a cycle of poverty and disease. Research shows that treating NTDs lifts millions out of poverty by ensuring that children stay in school to learn and prosper, by strengthening worker productivity and by improving maternal and child health.
About Sabin Vaccine Institute
Sabin Vaccine Institute is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization of scientists, researchers and advocates dedicated to reducing needless human suffering caused by vaccine-preventable and neglected tropical diseases. Sabin works with governments, leading public and private organizations and academic institutions to provide solutions for some of the world’s most pervasive health challenges. Since its founding in 1993 in honor of the oral polio vaccine developer, Dr. Albert B. Sabin, the Institute has been at the forefront of efforts to control, treat and eliminate these diseases by developing new vaccines, advocating the use of existing vaccines and promoting increased access to affordable medical treatments. For more information please visit www.sabin.org
