Neglected Tropical Diseases

Lord Alton of Liverpool Excerpts

Monday 3rd April 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Alton of Liverpool (CB)]

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to support my noble friend Lady Hayman and salute her dogged persistence in raising the issue of rare and neglected tropical diseases. In doing so, I should mention that I am a vice-president of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and have been associated with the school in one way or another for the best part of 40 years. I particularly pay tribute to Professor Janet Hemingway, whose brilliant leadership has ensured that the school has maintained its world-class status, and the remarkable Professor David Molyneux, who ranks as one of the foremost global authorities on neglected tropical diseases.

The Liverpool school has been involved with NTDs since its creation in 1898, and has been responsible for many of the ground-breaking discoveries in the field. A school staff member was among the small group who coined the term “NTDs” with the World Health Organization in 2004-05. I should like to use my brief contribution to this evening’s debate to shine a light on the school’s amazing work and to encourage the noble Lord, Lord Bates, to consider what extra assistance might be given.

Let me give the House just some examples of the ground-breaking work in which the Liverpool school has been involved in the past decade. With DfID support, the lymphatic filariasis programme continues to make a real impact on poor people in 12 countries, having assisted ministries of health to deliver 200 million drug doses since 2009. As a result, in Malawi, for instance, transmission of filariasis has stopped. The Liverpool school and the London Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases have expanded their commitment to those who remain disabled through the disease, recognising the tandem aims of stopping transmission and, as my noble friend Lady Hayman said, reducing chronic disablement. The school has been identifying patients, training surgeons to alleviate this stigmatising male genital disease, and demonstrating the benefits of surgery to those who are disabled.

Secondly, LSTM researchers are at the forefront of new and exciting approaches to mapping neglected tropical diseases using remote sensing technologies, mobile smartphone technologies for detecting NTD cases, patient identification and mapping diseases. I should be grateful if the Minister could tell us what study DfID has made of the use of such technologies.

Thirdly, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the school has developed the use of the antibiotic doxycycline and, with industrial partners, has developed a new drug ready for clinical trials to treat river blindness and elephantiasis.

Fourthly, the school’s staff are at the forefront of research on insecticide resistance—a major and increasing problem in the fight against malaria, but now also against Zika. This work has major policy impacts in all insect-transmitted diseases. The LSTM is a key policy adviser to the World Health Organization and is working on Zika projects to assist control. Perhaps the Minister could say a word about that too.

Fifthly, the school leads the way in snake-bite research. Snake-bite is a massively underestimated problem globally. I was amazed to be told that at least 100,000 deaths per year are attributable to a condition that often leads to amputation. Africa is in dire need of anti-venoms, as the major manufacturer has ceased production. The LTSM is seeking to develop new products which are multivalent, do not need to be in cold storage and are therefore affordable to those in urgent need. Perhaps the Minister will also comment on that.

Sixthly, researchers are undertaking critical work to improve the use and monitoring of insecticide in India to assist visceral leishmaniasis elimination programmes. VL is a fatal disease if untreated, as we have heard, but effective control of the sand-fly is vital to reduce transmission to some of the poorest people of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and elsewhere.

Seventhly, LSTM researchers are involved in reducing the burden of sleeping sickness in several countries, with cases now at the lowest reported level ever—fewer than 3,000 per year. Perhaps the Minister can tell us how and when we expect to see this reach zero.

To conclude, around 1 billion neglected tropical diseases are treated each year via donated quality drugs to the poorest people most in need at lowest per capita cost of any health intervention. This is often called, “the best buy in public health”, addressing equity, human rights, disability alleviation, and based on effective partnerships and alliances from community to global level. It is crucial work and my noble friend is right to press the Government to build on the progress made since the 2012 London declaration.