Celebrities are urging us to support the END7 campaign

by Taryn Davies | 3 March 2013

Eddie Redmayne is helping to support the END7 campaign

Emily Blunt, Eddie Redmayne and Tom Felton are just a few of the celebrities who are calling for support in the global effort to control and eliminate seven diseases that plague more than 1 billion people around the world.

In the video below, the celebrities witness the devastation neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) cause and encourage us to be part of the solution.

The video is part of the END7 campaign, which is attempting to control and elimate the seven most prevalent NTDs by 2020.

As well as Emily, Tom and Eddie, Tom Hollander, Yvonne Chaka and Priyanka Chopra are also featured in the video.

"Until recently, I didn't even know these diseases existed," explains Emily Blunt.

"The serious disabilited and suffering they inflict on the world's poorest people is heart-wrenching. But I was inspired to join the END7 campaign because, for once, the solution is simple and available now. And the cost for treatment is so low that almost anyone can make a big difference by giving just a few cents/pence."

The seven most common NTDs—hookworm, ascariasis (roundworm), trichuriasis (whipworm), schistosomiasis (snail fever), lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), onchocerciasis (river blindness) and trachoma—infect more than one in six people worldwide, including more than 500 million children. They cause blindness, massive swelling in appendages and limbs, severe malnutrition and anemia. NTDs prevent children from growing and learning. They reduce adults’ economic productivity and ability to care for their families, keeping communities trapped in a cycle of poverty and disease.

“We are building a movement that allows nearly everyone to play a part in making these diseases history,” said Dr. Neeraj Mistry, managing director of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases. “Since last January’s London Declaration we have seen a significant increase in support for NTD control and elimination among global leaders. What we need now is for the general public to get involved in our cause.”