World NTD Day 2022

This Sunday is World NTD Day. A global movement to end Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), now in its third year, which RSTMH is proud to partner. 

More than one in five people worldwide are affected by NTDs, resulting in over 1.7 billion people facing ill health and stigma, disability and even death. The group of 20 conditions are widespread in the world’s poorest regions, where water safety, sanitation and access to health care are not good enough. 

Caused mostly by a variety of pathogens including viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi, and toxins, diseases are “neglected” because they are almost absent from the global health agenda, enjoy little funding, and are associated with stigma and social exclusion. 

We, at RSTMH, have long been aware of the devastating impact of NTDs on communities around the world, with NTDs forming one of our key thematic priorities. We support efforts to beat these diseases through our communications and policy activities, our grants programme, journals and through the work of our members. 

Within NTDs we focus on the most neglected diseases in terms of awareness, research or funding, and also on the challenging contexts which often stop progress or elimination. These include challenges of poverty, lack of water and sanitation, conflict, and other elements of the sustainable development goals. 

Over the last ten years the efforts to tackle NTDs have also been a global health success story, with 600 million people no longer requiring treatment. But there is still a lot more work to be done before the world is free of these diseases. 

During this week, which ends with World NTD Day, we are supporting the work of many partners and programmes including the Wealth Health Organization (WHO) as they address the inequalities that characterise NTDs. On Wednesday they held an online event to celebrate World NTD Day. During this, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, called on the global community to continue their work to break the cycle of poverty and provide equitable health services to help beat NTDs.

The WHO are also hosting a second online event this afternoon, bringing together member states, UN entities and partners across sectors for an interactive discussion on national experiences, best practices and lessons learned in combatting NTDs. 

Last year the WHO launched its NTD 2021–2030 road map, in which its goals include the reduction of the number of people requiring intervention against NTDs by 90%; for 100 countries to have eliminated at least one NTD; and, to completely eradicate two NTDs. They aim to achieve these goals through strengthening the response to NTDs by focusing on cross-cutting issues and disease specific targets. 

To mark the launch of the road map, in partnership with the WHO, as well as NTD pioneers such as Dr Wendy Harrison and Professors Ahmed Fahal, Diana Lockwood and Alan Fenwick, we commissioned a series of blogs focusing on NTDs such as rabies, schistosomiasis, snakebite, leprosy, mycetoma, guinea worm and onchocerciasis. 

The series, “Ending NTDs: Together towards 2030”, not only demonstrates the successes and progress made so far, but also what needs to happen to reach the road map's targets of elimination and eradication.