The International Solidarity Division of the Canton of Geneva and the University of Geneva Hospitals (HUG) are hosting a joint panel discussion on the topic of "The Fight against Neglected Tropical Diseases", Tuesday 28 November at 18h30 at HUG. Mr François Longchamp, President of the Geneva Council of State, will officially open the event.
In recent years, the Canton of Geneva's International Solidarity Fund has supported a variety of projects that tackle the issue of neglected tropical diseases.

The canton's contribution has enabled significant advances in the diagnostics and treatment of sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis), among others. More specifically, the fund provided financial support for projects in East Africa led by two Geneva-based organisations, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND).

The canton is also involved in the fight against leprosy in Cambodia and noma in West Africa through projects implemented by Fondation CIOMAL and Amis de Sentinelles, respectively.
Closer to home, a dedicated multidisciplinary group from the HUG and the Geneva Faculty of Medicine is actively researching the causes of noma.

The panel on 28 November highlights the canton's commitment to international solidarity through such initiatives, as well as the innovative and highly effective work of Geneva-based organisations in fighting these debilitating diseases.

The event is open to the public.

Registration is recommended. If you wish to attend, please email si-secretariat@etat.ge.ch

Text provided by the International Solidarity Division of the Canton of Geneva.

On this picture, the photographer Neil Brandvold show a sleeping sickness screening by a mobile team in Yalikombo, a very isolated village along the Congo river, in between Isangi and Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, country accounting for 84% of cases of the disease.