Force for Zero — a torch carried by those who refuse to let neglected tropical diseases stay neglected, lighting the way from neglect to zero.
Honoring the trailblazers fighting to end neglected tropical diseases — the scientists, program leaders and advocates carrying the world from neglect to zero.
13 changemakers honored
FOUNDER
RA
Rakhi Agarwal
Founder, NTDx · Chief Procurement & Operations Officer, VCVX Inc.
Founder
Founder of NTDx. A life-sciences and global-health supply-chain leader with 24+ years across Sanofi, Johnson & Johnson and Merck — spanning global supplier governance over tens of thousands of suppliers, COVID-19 crisis sourcing, and public-health sourcing programs working alongside NIH, WHO and BARDA. She built NTDx to turn fragmented neglected-tropical-disease data into coordinated, fundable action — carrying the world from neglect to zero.
Launched the global Guinea worm eradication campaign in 1986, helping drive cases from an estimated 3.5 million across 21 countries to roughly 10 today — one of the greatest public-health feats in history. His "peace-for-health" diplomacy opened conflict zones to treatment across Africa.
Focus: Guinea worm, river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, trachoma
Director, WHO Department of Control of NTDs (2018–2022)
World Health Organization
Global Health LeaderIn memoriam
Led the World Health Organization’s NTD department and spearheaded the landmark 2021–2030 NTD road map. A Tanzanian scientist and the first woman to head the National Institute for Medical Research, she was a lifelong champion for women and girls in science.
Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine · Texas Children’s Hospital
Scientist
Helped define the very term "neglected tropical diseases" and was founding editor-in-chief of PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Develops low-cost vaccines for the world’s poorest through the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development.
Founded the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative in 2002 (now Unlimit Health), delivering hundreds of millions of praziquantel treatments across sub-Saharan Africa and securing landmark pharmaceutical donations to reach millions each year.
Emeritus Professor, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Scientist
A primary architect of the global movement to elevate NTDs. Championed the integrated "rapid-impact package" of mass drug administration and helped establish the WHO Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis.
Special Advisor for Guinea Worm Eradication, The Carter Center
The Carter Center
Program Leader
A veteran of the smallpox eradication campaign who has led The Carter Center’s health programs since 1986, driving Guinea worm to the brink of becoming the first human disease eradicated without a vaccine or medicine.
Former Director, African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (WHO)
World Health Organization · PACIEH
Program Leader
Pioneered Community-Directed Treatment with Ivermectin, empowering local communities to distribute medicine and reaching over 100 million people. Directed WHO’s onchocerciasis programme across 16 African nations; 2012 Prince Mahidol Award laureate.
Has led Sightsavers since 2005, making it a global force against trachoma. Her "Accelerate" programme has helped protect over 14 million people across 14 countries, contributing to WHO-validated trachoma elimination in several nations.
Architect, Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis
Task Force for Global Health
Scientist
Designed the mass-drug-administration strategy at the heart of WHO’s Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis, which has delivered over 1.9 billion treatments and averted an estimated 32 million disability-adjusted life years.
Founder & Managing Partner, Bridges to Development
Bridges to Development
Global Health Leader
Co-authored the 2012 London Declaration on NTDs, which secured $845 million and commitments from nine pharmaceutical companies. Former NTD lead at the Gates Foundation and past president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Leads Unlimit Health’s work with health ministries to deliver mass treatment for schistosomiasis, which affects over 200 million people. A champion of the "One Health" approach integrating medical treatment with water, sanitation and hygiene.
Director, River Blindness, LF & Schistosomiasis Programs, The Carter Center
The Carter Center
Program Leader
Directs The Carter Center’s elimination programs, pioneering twice-yearly ivermectin dosing and community-directed distribution that have eliminated river blindness across much of the Americas and driven progress in high-burden regions of Africa.
Focus: River blindness, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis
Profiles compiled from public professional and organizational sources, each cited on the card. Force for Zero recognizes real, verifiable contributors to the global NTD effort; it does not imply endorsement of 0NTD.
