Buruli ulcer: progress report, 2004–2008

Overview

During a visit to Côte d’Ivoire in December 1997, the Director-General of WHO announced: “we are going to mobilize worldwide expertise and the necessary resources for confronting this new challenge”. In February 1998, a preliminary meeting involving 7 experts was organized in Geneva to formulate a global strategy for controlling the disease. In July the same year, WHO organized a high-level international conference on control of and research into Buruli ulcer in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire, attended by the presidents of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana and the WHO Director-General. This conference resulted in the Yamoussoukro Declaration, marking an historic turning point in the fight against this previously neglected tropical disease. In 2004, the World Health Assembly adopted resolution WHA 57.1, calling for increased surveillance and accelerated research to develop new tools for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Buruli ulcer.

WHO has played a crucial role in global advocacy efforts that have helped to bring Buruli ulcer out of obscurity and attract resources to fight the disease. Today, Buruli ulcer is 1 of 13 neglected tropical diseases. Representatives from countries where the disease is endemic, donors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and research institutions actively participate in the WHO Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative. Annual meetings of the initiative, which are organized by WHO, have contributed to ensuring greater cohesion and networking among different members of the Buruli ulcer community including representatives from the ministries of health of affected countries, NGOs and research institutions, and also helped to monitor progress in activities for control and research.

This report provides an update of the last publication in the Weekly Epidemiological Record and summarizes some of the key developments made in the past 4 years.