UAE campaign raises funds to help three million by fighting neglected tropical diseases

The Reach Campaign’s initiative runs up to the Golden Jubilee and seeks to free dozens of countries from river blindness and lymphatic filariasis

Toyota Mksiyura, right, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who suffers from severe swelling in her feet caused by lymphatic filariasis. The UAE's Reach Campaign is aimed at tackling neglected tropical diseases. Photo: End Fund

Ethiopian Kasech Fantu, who suffers from elephantiasis, with her children. Neglected tropical diseases are little known in the wider world but devastating for sufferers. Photo: The Carter Centre

Daniel Boakye, a researcher working with The End Fund, is one of the world's foremost experts on black flies. The UAE began its Reach initiative mainly to help eliminate river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, which are caused by parasitic worms carried by flying insects. Photo: End Fund

Farmer Lelamo Mukhtar had to sell his land and could not work anymore after he became ill with lymphatic filariasis. Photo: End Fund

Mr Mukhtar with his son Fouwad, who has taken over farming and supporting the family after his father became ill. Photo: End Fund

Mr Mukhtar with some of his 10 children. Photo: End Fund

Malian Moce lost his eyesight over thirty years ago to river blindness. More than 200 million people globally require treatment for the disease, one of the leading causes of preventable blindness. Photo: End Fund

Moce is now receiving treatment. Photo: End Fund

A UAE campaign that aims to raise awareness and funds to eradicate two neglected tropical diseases has already collected enough money to help three million people in Africa.

The Reach Campaign’s 50 Days to Transform Five Million Lives initiative was launched on October 14 and will run until the country’s Golden Jubilee.

The projects seeks to free dozens of countries from two parasitic infections: river blindness and lymphatic filariasis.

Organisers announced on Monday that the campaign had just passed the halfway point.

Several companies, such as Adnoc, Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Lulu Group International and Rivoli Group’s Watches & Vision Care divisions, organised events and promotions to help raise money.

Dubai Cares has pledged to donate Dh50,000 ($13,600) to the Reach Campaign.

Abu Dhabi Sports Council will donate a percentage of each runner’s entry fee to the 2021 Adnoc Abu Dhabi Marathon.

Meanwhile independent coffee shops BRDG, DRVN Coffee, Dialogue, H’s Coffee, Kava and Chai, Morsel, Notes, Pentagon, Shot, Coffee Architecture and Ten 11 will continue to offer in-store promotions until the end of the campaign.

The Reach Campaign has invited the public to contribute to the initiative by visiting the Dubai Cares webpage, by texting GIVE to 2424, or through Reach’s website: www.reachtheend.org.

All proceeds from the 50-day campaign will benefit the Reaching the Last Mile Fund (RLMF) to eliminate the two diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.

The End Fund, a philanthropic investment platform that aims to tackle the five most common neglected tropical diseases, manages the RLMF.

The 10-year, $100 million initiative was established in 2017 by Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, along with other supporters, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Elma Philanthropies.

All funds raised by the Reach Campaign are administered by the RLMF.

It offers preventive treatment for neglected tropical diseases and focuses on ways to eliminate them, such as investing in disease mapping efforts and supporting advanced labs and cross-border collaborations.

To date, the money raised has helped more than 800 million people across seven countries.

The Reach Campaign's drive aims to raise funds to support these activities and help protect at least five million people from river blindness and lymphatic filariasis.

“We are humbled by the level of support this vital initiative has received from various platforms across our community," said Tala Al Ramahi, acting managing director for the group.

"Our partners and participating brands have demonstrated once again the true values that have guided our nation in extending a hand to people in need.

“The campaign has worked with every partner to maximise our footprint, awareness and fundraising efforts. To know that we have the capacity to positively impact the lives of three million people so far is a remarkable milestone for which we are very grateful.”

Kasech Fantu is a vegetable merchant who lives in Ethiopia with her two children. She suffers from an advanced stage of lymphatic filariasis that causes the limbs to swell, resulting in severe mobility issues and potentially permanent disability. Photo: Reach Campaign

What are neglected tropical diseases?

It is an umbrella term for a group of parasitic and bacterial infectious diseases that affect more than 1.7 billion of the world’s most marginalised and impoverished people, including more than one billion children.

The diseases tend to be neglected because they are not as deadly as others. About 170,000 people die from neglected tropical diseases every year, said Daniel Boakye, senior technical adviser of programmes at the End Fund.

River blindness, or onchocerciasis, is a parasitic infection caused by a worm. It is spread by repeated bites from a type of fly that lives near fast-flowing rivers.

The infection causes severe skin irritation and ultimately irreversible blindness. It mainly affects African countries.

Lymphatic filariasis is caused by tiny threadlike worms that live in the human lymph system. It is spread from person to person by mosquitoes.

Those who suffer from the condition are often shunned by their communities and unable to work owing to their symptoms, which can include swelling that becomes disfiguring.

UAE's drive to eradicate polio in Pakistan - in pictures

The UAE is closely involved in efforts to eradicate polio in Pakistan.

Healthcare workers gave 28 million vaccine doses to more than 16 million children in Pakistan between July and September 2020.

Since 2014, the UAE has contributed more than $200m towards the eradication of polio in Pakistan. It has delivered 483 million doses of polio vaccine and immunised more than 86 million children.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has praised the work of the UAE in fighting polio in Pakistan.

In the first six months of 2021, Pakistan reported only one case of wild polio. In 2020, it reported 77 cases of polio and 147 in 2019, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

To be certified a polio-free nation, Pakistan must report no affected children over a three-year period.