Since COVID-19 emerged about a year ago, hearing technical health jargon — words like “pandemic,” “personal protective equipment,” and “mRNA” — has become common in small-talk settings worldwide.
Some would argue that the reason health jargon has become infused in our everyday conversations is due to the concerted effort to get clear, consistent, and factual information to people around the world. Billions of everyday citizens quickly learned how to flatten the curve (and learned what “the curve” was), how to “raise the line” (of our health system’s capacity), how to avoid catching COVID-19, and were given tips on how to stay safe by keeping their distance.
One can’t help but wonder how much progress could be made if there was this much awareness - or interest - around other global health threats?
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) have historically been overlooked by the international community, despite the fact that they affect more than 1.7 billion people worldwide. These 20 treatable diseases disproportionately impact the poorest and most vulnerable people across 149 developing countries, creating a barrier to them participating fully in their country’s progress and economic prosperity.
Today, January 30, is the second annual World NTD Day and the anniversary of the landmark 2012 London Declaration on NTDs which unified partners across sectors, countries, and disease communities in an effort for greater investment and action on NTDs.
With the launch of the World Health Organization’s new 2021 plan: ‘Ending the neglect to attain the Sustainable Development Goals: a road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021–2030,’ the WHO and its coalition partners hope this new advocacy tool can be used to call for more accountability, intersectional approaches, and country ownership to deliver on NTD targets in the lead up to 2030.
I recently spoke with Dr. Moses Bockarie, board member at the End Fund, the only private philanthropic initiative solely dedicated to ending the five most common NTDs. As the former director of the Centre for NTDs (CNTD) in Liverpool, England, he had a hand in the early stages of the London Declaration.
Dr. Bockarie sees the WHO’s new roadmap as an opportunity to spotlight the significant progress that has been made in the last 10 years, as well as to set cross-cutting targets and strategies for achieving even more in the next decade.
“Partners were slow to recognize the value of cross-cutting and synergistic approaches to tackling multiple infectious diseases that affect the same communities,” he said. “Lessons from the last 10 years suggest the need for strengthening multisectoral approaches for NTDs, particularly in diagnostics, monitoring and evaluation, access and logistics, and advocacy and funding.”
A WHO survey in 2020 revealed that 90% of countries had reported disruptions to essential health services amid the pandemic. This likely means that many interventions to fight NTDs have fallen behind.
Once COVID-19 has been eliminated, we have the opportunity to leverage new water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure to combat NTDs — but we must fight to keep them in place and to continue to strengthen them. According to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), we can reduce WASH-related NTDs by as much as 78% around the world with better sanitation.
It is critical that we bring NTDs back to the global health agenda — and in a bigger way, with the lessons we have learned from tackling COVID-19. NTD treatments are exceptionally cost-effective. As little as USD 0.50 cents funds a rapid-impact package of medication to treat an individual for the five most common NTDs. The new WHO roadmap provides a clear way forward to tackling diseases like intestinal worms and the 19 other NTDs that still exist today.
As Dr. Bockarie told me, “the global community should recognize the fight against NTDs as necessary for the global good. The main lesson from the Ebola and COVID-19 outbreaks is that fighting infectious diseases should be a global responsibility.”
To date, Global Citizens have taken 670,000 actions including tweets, emails, and calls to their elected leaders to prioritize the health of every mother and child affected by neglected tropical disease. You can read more about the WHO’s new NTD road map and Global Citizen’s work here.
