It is time to look back at a piece of important news that came up in the health world on November 12th, 2020. On this day, WHO delegates attended a virtual session of the 73rd World Health Assembly to discuss and draw out a road map that sets specific targets to tackle 20 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). This road map covers a 10-year period ranging from 2021 to 2030 and is focused on interventions to tackle 20 NTDs.
NTDs, the road map said, “are a diverse set of 20 diseases and disease groups with a singular commonality: their impact on impoverished communities. These diseases affect more than a billion people with devastating health, social and economic consequences”. These are some of the NTDs targeted to be tackled: dracunculiasis, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, trachoma, human African trypanosomiasis, rabies, Buruli ulcer, leprosy, dengue fever, Chagas disease, among others.
The main targets in the new road map include: decrease in the number of people needing treatment for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by 90%, the elimination of at least one NTD in 100 countries, eradication of two NTDs (yaws and dracunculiasis), and decrease in the NTD-related disability-adjusted life years (DALY’s) by 75%. The road map proposed that countries must both integrate and prioritize prevention and control of endemic NTDs in national health plans and also dedicate a corresponding line item in national health budgets.
Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, UK, tells SciDev.Net that, some NTDs like trypanosomiasis are closer to elimination than others like scabies which has received very little previous focus. He stated that: “these diseases don’t kill many people and often don’t get headlines but they are all seriously unpleasant and pose real threats to health and quality of life.
Although covid-19 could prove a setback for the ambitious 10-year road map targets but as achievable as they are, WHO is determined to accomplish them all accurately in the time planned.
Source: SciDev.Net
