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The NTD Roundtable Welcomes the Interfaith Community Letter Calling for Restoration of U.S. Funding to End Neglected Tropical Diseases
The full text of the letter can be found below. If you’re interested in signing on in support of the letter, please fill out the form below.
Interfaith Community Letter Calling for the Restoration of Funding to End Neglected Tropical Diseases
As of September 2025
As faith leaders from diverse religious traditions, we come together united by a shared conviction: that every human life is endowed with dignity and worth. Our sacred texts and moral traditions call us to care for the sick, serve the poor, and act with compassion toward the most vulnerable among us.
Today, that call compels us to raise our voices in support of restoring U.S. funding to eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) — a set of debilitating illnesses that afflict more than one billion of our brothers and sisters, particularly in the world’s poorest communities. Indeed, these diseases—some as old as time itself—strike the poorest of the poor: Those with no voice in policymaking or budget setting.
NTDs thrive in places of poverty — rural villages, urban slums, and refugee camps — disproportionately affecting children, mothers, and those already living on the margins. These diseases rob people of sight, mobility, and livelihood. They perpetuate poverty, stigmatize the vulnerable, and compound suffering. But they are not inevitable.
Thanks in large part to American leadership, this is a winnable fight. U.S. investments, including bipartisan support for global health programs and generous donations from American pharmaceutical companies, have helped deliver over 3.3 billion treatments. Mission hospitals, faith-based clinics, and local religious leaders across Africa, Asia, and Latin America have played a crucial role in bringing these life-saving medicines to remote and underserved communities.
Countries with large Christian populations — such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia — have made tremendous progress against river blindness and intestinal worms. In Muslim-majority nations like Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Sudan, NTD programs have helped lift millions out of cycles of disease and economic despair. In Hindu-majority India and Nepal, mass drug administrations have driven diseases like lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) to the brink of elimination.
This progress is a testament to what is possible when faith, science, and compassion converge. The world has witnessed the tangible fruits of American generosity and vision. But that progress is now at risk.
Recent cuts to U.S. global health funding threaten this progress. That is why we, as faith leaders in the United States, urge Congress to restore funding for NTDs — not as an act of charity, but as an expression of justice, mercy, and global solidarity.
Our scriptures remind us:
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves” (Proverbs 31:8)
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40)
“Whoever is able to protest against the transgressions of the world and does not, is accountable for the sins of the whole world.” (Talmud, Shabbat 54b)
“Whoever saves one life — it is as if they had saved all of humanity” (Qur’an 5:32),
“The best way to worship God is to serve the poor and suffering” (Bhagavad Gita-inspired teachings).
We appeal not just to the conscience of our legislators, but to their sense of moral leadership and national purpose. America has been a beacon of hope in the global fight against NTDs. Let us not turn back. The end of these diseases is within reach — if we have the courage and faith to finish what we started.
We stand ready to pray, to partner, and to persist — until no one suffers from NTDs. Until no community is left behind. And until dignity is restored to all God’s children.
The NTD Roundtable Welcomes Pledge to Restore U.S. Leadership in the Fight Against Neglected Tropical Diseases
The full text of the letter can be found below. If you’re interested in signing on in support of the letter, please fill out the form below.
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Pledge to Restore U.S. Leadership in the Fight Against Neglected Tropical Diseases
As of September 2025
America must continue its extraordinary, cost-effective leadership in defeating Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). NTDs are a group of parasitic, bacterial, viral, and vector-borne illnesses that affect 1.6 billion people worldwide. When they do not kill, these diseases disable, disfigure, and stigmatize their victims, trapping families and communities in cycles of poverty and despair. They are found mostly in the world’s poorest communities, but they are also a growing threat and reality here in the United States.
U.S. investment in NTD prevention and treatment programs – at its height $115 million annually, representing 0.0017% of total U.S. government spending – has been one of the most extraordinary returns on investment in global health, development, and U.S. soft power. It has catalyzed more than $1.1 billion every year in donated medicines from pharmaceutical companies, making it one of the most successful public-private partnerships in global health and the largest private medical donation program in history. Since 2006, bold American leadership and collaboration with international, private, and faith-based partners have enabled more than 600 million people to live free from these devastating diseases. U.S. support has directly contributed to 15 countries eliminating at least one of these diseases, and 8 countries having graduated from U.S. support for NTDs altogether.
The benefits of U.S. NTD programs extend far beyond health. By helping communities eliminate these ancient afflictions, America builds stronger trading partners, supports economic growth in some of the world’s fastest-growing regions, and contributes to stability in places where extremism poses a threat. NTD programs “win hearts and minds” in strategically important countries, projecting American values and strengthening important relationships. They also protect Americans at home, as diseases like dengue fever, Chagas disease, soil-transmitted helminths, and leishmaniasis increasingly threaten our own communities.
Terminating U.S. funding for NTD programs now is a dangerous and costly mistake. Already, donated medicines are expiring while distribution campaigns have been halted. Without renewed support,14 countries projected to eliminate NTDs in the next five years may miss their goals. This would squander previous investment of American taxpayer dollars, waste billions in donated medicines, and hand our geopolitical rivals the opportunity to take credit for a victory built on U.S. leadership.
But with continued commitment for just a few more years, the United States can help deliver one of the most cost-effective global health victories in history: the elimination of multiple NTDs by 2030. This is a rare opportunity to lock in health, economic, and security gains for generations to come and ensure the U.S. gets credit for our leadership to date.Moreover, through continued U.S. investment and leadership, we can strengthen countries’ ability to manage and eliminate these diseases on their own.
Therefore, we call on the U.S. government to immediately restore $115 million in annual funding for NTDs. Doing so would make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous by protecting its own citizens, strengthening global security, securing long-term economic benefits, and helping to lift up the world’s poorest communities.
We pledge our voices to this cause, and urge our leaders to finish the fight against Neglected Tropical Diseases.