This film looks at the success in overcoming a crippling disease that has besieged Nigeria, and large parts of Africa for decades. Onchocerciasis, commonly known as river blindness causes unbearable itching and ultimately blindness to the point where river-side communities were abandoned. Thanks to the dedication of people like Nasarawa State Coordinator for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Jacob Righain, the support of NGO partners The Carter Center and donation of the treating drug Mectizan by Merck & Co., local communities have been empowered to break the transmission of river blindness and create a platform for future disease interventions.

Filming just before the COVID-19 kicked in, we worked with a talented Nigerian crew to get right to the heart of the story. We edited back in the UK and created a bespoke soundtrack to help transport the viewer deeper in to the world of neglected tropical diseases.

It forms part of a wider suite of films used in different ways that have told the MDP story over the years, collaborating with multiple global partners from the Nigerian Ministry of Health and local government, to Sightsavers, the Carter Center and other key players in the game to get full engagement from the offset.

*** OFFICIAL NOMINATION FOR WHO: HEALTH FOR ALL FILM FESTIVAL ***

‘Insulin 100 Years On: Leaving no-one behind’ is a short film about a global public health crisis. When insulin was first discovered in 1921, it turned the diagnosis of diabetes from a death sentence into a manageable condition. However, too many people living in developing countries find it increasingly difficult to access this life-saving treatment.

The commodification of an ever-growing market of people living with diabetes, combined with the inaction of governments, has led to a global health crisis. Not only do patients have to travel for hours to reach insulin, but inflated prices have forced many to ration their supplies in order to afford the drug at all.

With the help of NGOs, developing countries have been able to educate their populations, train their doctors and build public health strategies to improve access to insulin.

Only with global and national systems in place to tackle the problems of insulin availability and affordability can the world hope to bring this public health crisis under control.

This film was made with a diverse range of contributions, including the work of local film crews in Mali, Peru, Mozambique, Geneva and Amsterdam. Cloud9Media Creative Director and founder Steve Maud’s personal experience of living with Type 1 diabetes, as well as the company’s extensive work in the field of global health, has given the production of this film a well-informed and personal insight into the global diabetes crisis.

See more on the World Health Assembly Resolution on diabetes.

A locally shot film, told by locals, for the wider world and putting the focus on how developments in technology now put diagnosis at your fingertips.  

Innovation is fundamental to achieving elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases and FIND wanted the drivers of this important project to tell their own story. 

With travel restrictions in place we went to our trusted and incredibly hardworking contact, cameraman George Muiruri, who followed a day in the life with the team running this prototype test for schistosomiasis in Kwale, Kenya.

This is a good illustration of how we apply our approach of working with local film crew to make the most of their expertise and knowledge, whilst reducing the environmental footprint that film production has historically been associated with.

Sightsavers delivers the one billionth treatment for River Blindness, a parasite-borne condition that leads to severe disability and the destruction of entire communities. Because of mass treatment programmes like those run by Sightsavers, young children like Dorcas can live a very different life to her grandfather, who was made blind by river blindness.

Our team was was there to witness this incredible moment, reminding us how incredibly important this work is.

This film looks at the power of partnership through the lens of the truly symbiotic relationship that exists between NGOs and the Nigerian government as they strive to eliminate River Blindness.

River blindness is a crippling disease that affects people who live at the margins of society, where they don’t have access to clean water, proper medical care or the preventative treatment Mectizan that is donated by Merck.

The work of non-governmental organisations like Sightsavers is key to helping strengthen national health systems in their response to neglected tropical diseases.

Kate McCoy from Sightsavers said of this film: “It’s absolutely brilliant, the footage is stunning and the partnerships and different players in delivering oncho work come across so well – congrats!”

Sightsavers had originally wanted to invite three community medicine distributors form around Africa to speak at the launch of the Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases Declaration, at the Natural History Museum in London, with the WHO and Gates Foundation amongst the delegates they wanted to communicate the success stories on the ground. However getting visas in such a short space of time ruled this out.

Wrangling with customs officers, visas and hugely long car journeys we filmed in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia over 10 days, where we travelled to the remotest regions to hear these people’s stories.

Hosted by Sightsavers and attended by over 200 people from across the pharma, donor and NGO sectors including the Gates Foundation and World Health Organisation, the film was used to launch a discussion on the importance of attaining the WHO 2020 goals for Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Based in Kenya, Nyumbani is a charity that has developed a visionary solution to the legacy of HIV AIDS in Kenya. Through the love of a Catholic Sister, the charity has helped thousands of orphaned children face the huge challenges of making it to adulthood in a country where HIV is still a taboo with confidence, allowing these orphans to refill the gap left by previous generations wiped out by this disease.

The film was paid for by Hotcourses, one of their benefactors, to update board members like Jeremy Hunt on the life-changing work that goes on in this special place. We created several lengths of film for different purposes, and worked closely with the charity to ensure the creation of a sensitive and informative final product.

This film was produced as part of a suite of material gathered on two trips to India and Zanzibar for use as an advocacy tool to support GSK’s donation programme.

Having the children tell us their stories meant we needed to find confident speakers – no easy task in Zanzibar where traditionally young girls can be cripplingly shy. So we used a local fixing company to meet potential contributors, source the best stories and start to weave together a narrative that speaks to the heart, and the parent, in all of us.

Back in the UK we translated interviews, re-scripted and looked to use voiceover artists from the local African and Indian diaspora of London. This helped keep the child’s voice at the centre of the narrative whilst avoiding the use of subtitles which can distract from the core action.

In 2012, our creative director had the chance to spend a week in Malawi with Annie Lennox, as she went to visit some of the projects supported by her foundation, SING.

Mary’s Meals are a large NGO providing daily porridge to thousands of children across Africa. This allows them to concentrate and draws them to school, helping create brighter futures.

With this film played at the United To Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases (UTCNTD) UN conference in 2015, we were proud to assist in providing this compelling story with a wider audience.

Charles and his remote eye surgery team (supported by Sightsavers and UTCNTDs) is on hand to find people with trachoma and transport them to the mobile eye surgery where they can be treated. A simple operation can be hugely effective, often restoring full sight. Equally importantly, health education work is being carried out in these regions to help prevention of trachoma, which is transmitted by flies, for future generations.

To film the story, we took a five-hour road trip from Nairobi to Kajiado County to work in dry and sometimes difficult shooting conditions. But it was truly inspiring to see the impact that this programme is having on individuals and families – people come in blind, and they leave with their vision restored. Thanks to the work of UTCNTDs, Sightsavers and The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, who support local healthcare teams, we think this is a truly awesome programme.

As part of our long-standing relationship with British Airways’ Community Investment team we spent time in Durban, South Africa, with Tom Hewitt and his crew of ex-street kids now-surfing professionals known as Surfers Not Street Children.

Apart from their partnership with Comic Relief, British Airways offer annual bursaries to individual projects around the world that they feel are providing long-term sustainable development to the community. Durban has a long history of homelessness and street crime, so a surfing project that engages young kids and give them some life-changing guidance can make a huge impact.

Once we actually managed to get all the kids in the same place at the same time (“it’s like herding cats” said Tom in despair) hanging out with these bright enthusiastic young guys was the highlight – you could feel the energy coming from them, all buzzing from the experience of surfing and being filmed. One even requested a coffee with seven sugars which probably contributed to the general energy level.

Charlotte could be considered severely disabled, but her life was transformed by horse riding and the therapy it provides. However, during pandemic lockdown, Riding for the Disabled Association had to close all of their riding centres. In the process, the future impact of COVID had more far-reaching implications that we could imagine.

We filmed Charlotte originally for a fundraising gala dinner, and decided to repurpose the edit for more wider and pressing appeal.

Remembering our filming experience with this sweet-natured girl and her un-bounding energy brings a smile to our faces.

Her mother, Helen Seth, said:

“I wanted to say a big thank you for the lovely video that you made of Charlotte for the RDA – it’s really lovely and captures Charlotte so well and really highlights her abilities. You were also really lovely with her during the filming process and we all enjoyed the day.”

We’re happy to share that our film played a role in the raising of £46,683 – and that the RDA has survived and continues to do great work.

Cloud9Media spent an action-packed week in Western Uganda to create video and photographic coverage for TV presenter Charlie Webster’s trip as she saw with her own eyes the impact of malaria – and come to terms with a fatal disease that she caught herself two years ago when cycling to the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Using archival shots taken from Charlie’s broadcast career and stills of her hospitalisation, our team combined these with our own footage to show the background of Charlie’s journey. The result is a short film that captured the challenges she and other sufferers of malaria face, and how there is hope for the elimination of malaria.