Since 1998, when the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative, considerable progress has been made in Buruli ulcer control and research. In 2004, the Fifty-seventh World Health Assembly adopted resolution WHA57.1 on surveillance and control of Mycobacterium ulcerans disease (Buruli ulcer), calling for strengthened control and research in order to develop better tools for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of the disease.

In 2009, WHO convened a high-level meeting in Cotonou, Benin where the Cotonou declaration on Buruli ulcer was adopted in support of an intensified control strategy focused on early detection of cases and wider access to antibiotic treatment.

Recently, the WHO Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases has been promoting integrated control of neglected tropical diseases of the skin (the so-called skin-NTDs) as an innovative way to address multiple skin diseases simultaneously. The Cotonou declaration and the World Health Assembly resolution, together with other recent developments within the framework of the WHO Roadmap on neglected tropical diseases, health system strengthening and universal health coverage towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, further call for renewed and intensified efforts to advance progress in Buruli ulcer control and research.