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ICTC Meets in Sydney, Australia and Adopts Strategic Plan
Members of the International Coalition for Trachoma Control (ICTC) met during the first week of September in Sydney, Australia following a Neglected Tropical Disease Non-governmental Development Organization Network (NNN) conference hosted by the Sydney-based Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF).
ICTC members first gathered with organizations working on other Neglected Tropical Diseases and related fields, including lymphatic filariasis, onchoceriasis, schistosomiasis, and soil-transmitted helminthes. During the NNN meeting, participants shared methods, best practices, and results in a mutually beneficial effort to conduce collaboration between NTD organizations and related sectors.
Following the NNN, FHF hosted the ICTC session, during which ICTC members approved the coalition's freshly completed strategy document. The ICTC represents a cohesive, multi-front effort to eliminate blinding trachoma by the year 2020 - in accordance with WHO-developed guidelines - through the combined efforts of its member organizations. This formal strategy document institutionalizes and further defines the elements required to reach the GET2020 goal that each member has prioritized, and their inherent need to collaborate. It also marks ICTC as the first coalition of its kind to operate under such a strategy.
ICTC Creates New Coordinator Position:
Bill Nigut takes on New Role
 ICTC also introduced a new coordinator position to be responsible for organizing and planning operational facets of the global coalition. The position is housed within ITI and funded by FHF. Former ITI Communications Assistant Bill Nigut was assigned this position, and will now split his time between ITI and ICTC duties. The ICTC Coordinator represents another important commitment from coalition members to the group's collective purpose and shared goals.
NTDs Gain Visibility in Washington, DC
On September 19th, more than 40 groups, representing non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, global health and civil society groups, and pharmaceutical companies, gathered in the U.S. Senate building in Washington DC, to mark a landmark event entitled Celebrating an Untold Story of Success: Global Partnerships in the Fight Against NTDs. See details here.
The following day, U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) announced the expansion of the Senate Malaria Working Group, which they co-chair, to become a the Senate Caucus on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases that will focus on efforts to stem the global tide of 17 neglected tropical diseases including malaria.
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