The year 2010 marks the halfway point towards the projected goal of eliminating the disease by 2020; this is thus an appropriate time to reect on the progress made, lessons learnt and the challenges ahead. Global health has changed dramatically since 2000. GPELF is now part of a comprehensive programme of NTD control efforts, in which preventive chemotherapy, vector control and morbidity management are increasingly integrated and delivered as multi-intervention packages at the global, national and local levels.
During its first decade, GPELF focused on beginning, which involved developing guidelines based on existing knowledge, initiating programmes in every
WHO region where the disease was endemic, and scaling up the programme as rapidly as possible. These efforts must continue.
Th e 2000–2009 progress report highlights the essential contributions made by operational research, advocacy and partnership, governance, and health systems in making the achievements of GPELF’s fi rst decade possible. It concludes with an analysis of the health and economic benefi ts of the programme.