Priyanka Chopra a part of the Global Effort to End Neglected Tropical Diseases by 2020
Priyanka Chopra is reaching out for a noble cause. She has joined celebrities across the world to support the global effort to control and eliminate seven diseases that plague more than 1 billion people around the world, including 500 million children.
Joining the likes of international names like Emily Blunt (Devil Wears Prada), Tom Felton from the Harry Potter series, Eddie Redmayne (Les Miserables) and Tom Hollandar of Pride and Prejudice and Pirates of the Caribbean fame, Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra is part of the first public awareness campaign dedicated to NTD control, encouraging supporters to sign a pledge to inspire global policy leaders and philanthropists to take action and help end these diseases by 2020.
Says Priyanka Chopra, “In India alone, nearly 700 million people are at risk for elephantiasis and more than 200 million children are at risk for worm infections. Through the END7 campaign, we can offer a solution that will change the lives of millions of people living in poverty in Asia and around the world. I am proud to be a part of the global effort to end these diseases.”
Adding that, “This generation of children need not suffer in the same way their parents have. With government and state action and your help, Neglected Tropical Diseases will be neglected no more.”
The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases is an advocacy initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute dedicated to raising the awareness, political will, and funding necessary to control and eliminate the most common Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)—a group of disabling, disfiguring, and deadly diseases affecting more than 1.4 billion people worldwide living on less than $1.25 a day.
Elephantiasis
Elephantiasis is the enlargement and hardening of limbs or body parts due to tissue swelling. It is characterised by edema, hypertrophy, and fibrosis of skin and subcutaneous tissues, due to obstruction of lymphatic vessels. It may affect the genitalia. The term elephantiasis is often used in reference to (symptoms caused by) parasitic worm infections, but may refer to a variety of diseases where parts of a person’s body swell to massive proportions.
END7 Campaign
The END7 campaign, launched in January 2012 by the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, an initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, aims to raise the public awareness and funding required to cover the cost of distributing medicine and setting up treatment programmes for NTDs. It is the first comprehensive public awareness campaign dedicated to NTD treatment and elimination and relies heavily on visual content disseminated through various social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to spread its message.
March 5, 2013
