Need Urgent Attention on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)!
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of 17 contagious diseases that cause serious illness for more than one billion people globally, costing developing countries billions of dollars every year. Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) mainly affect people living in poverty, without adequate sanitation and in close contact with infectious vectors and domestic animals.
List of Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs):
- Buruli ulcer
- Chagas disease
- Dengue and Chikungunya
- Dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease)
- Echinococcosis
- Foodborne trematodiases
- Human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness)
- Leishmaniasis
- Leprosy (Hansen's disease)
- Lymphatic filariasis
- Onchocerciasis (river blindness)
- Rabies
- Schistosomiasis
- Soil-transmitted helminthiases
- Taeniasis/Cysticercosis
- Trachoma
- Yaws (Endemic treponematoses)
Normally, the cases of NTDs remain underreported because they affect the poorest and the most marginalized with little or no access to diagnosis, treatment and cure. If untreated, NTDs cause severe illness, disability, deformity and cognitive impairment.
Besides basic research and development; the discovery of new facts about a disease, enhanced drugs, preventable vaccines and new strategies are needed to make an impact. In fact, validating the efficacy of new tools and methods is not enough; their effectiveness must be demonstrated in the field. Lastly, for these programmes to succeed, it is important to maintain constant vigilance through robust surveillance and reporting mechanisms. To eradicate leprosy, India needs to tackle the stigma associated with the disease, which generally delays in diagnosis and treatment. In India, 118 districts were endemic for leprosy with a prevalence rate of more than 1 per 10,000 during 2015-16.
While some of these diseases may be unfamiliar, Worms (helminths), leprosy, kala-azar (visceral leishmaniasis) and lymphatic filariasis are better known in India. A recent survey suggests that more than half of India’s population is at risk of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and has stepped up efforts to control and eliminate kala-azar (visceral leishmaniasis) by 2017 and lymphatic filariasis by 2018. On 26 April 2017 member states of the WHO's south East Asia Region pledge to Eradicate, Eliminate and Control NTDs with a focus on innovation and research to improve the surveillance, diagnosis and access to treatment.
Leaders of several prominent global health and development organizations got together and came out for the call for Action. This Call for Action encourages people to eliminate the NTDs by 2020. We (PSM-India) are behind them; to support them in every possible way so that this dream that many of us have become a reality.