How Do We End Neglected Tropical Diseases?

Over the past decade, incredible progress has been made against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) – a group of 20 diseases that debilitate, disfigure and can kill. Forty-seven countries have eliminated at least one NTD, with several countries having eliminated two, three or four NTDs. In 2020, 600 million fewer people required interventions against NTDs than in 2010. Efforts to tackle NTDs are a global health success story, but the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is threatening hard-fought progress. Concerted action and financing for NTDs is needed if we are to reach the targets of the WHO 2030 NTD road map and safeguard the hard-won gains of the past decades. Investment in tackling NTDs is synonymous with investing in equity and in equitable access to health care. As NTDs are primarily diseases of poverty, strengthening the systems by which the world’s poorest are able to access health care is, by definition, a contribution to strengthening community and country-level responses both to specific diseases and to generalized ill health. We have seen incredible leadership from Botswana, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania, Timor Leste, Uganda, and Vanuatu, along with Belgium, Canada, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, UAE, USA, and the UK, all who have signed the Kigali Declaration and we welcome fellow Heads of State to join them . NTDs are preventable or treatable, so it is in our power to end them.
We are 100% committed to ending neglected tropical diseases.