Anesvad Foundation – Individual Statement WHA79 – Agenda Item: Communicable Diseases – NTD Road Map 2021–2030

Anesvad Foundation welcomes the Director-General's report and reaffirms its commitment to the NTD Road Map as a WHO partner on skin-related neglected tropical diseases in Africa.

We have seen firsthand how integrated, people-centred approaches — grounded in lived experience — are transforming service delivery for communities long left behind. But integration must go further: Universal Health Coverage for NTDs means addressing the social determinants that drive them, and embedding mental health within service delivery as an inseparable component of care.

Four years remain until 2030. We urge Member States to match ambition with action — defend financing, leave no one behind, and make UHC a lived reality for the world's most neglected populations.