December 03, (THEWILL) — Public health experts have called for stronger action by governments and the people to contain the growth of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in Africa, warning that many countries on the continent risk the burden of an upsurge of these diseases.
The experts made the call at a virtual Media Dialogue on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) with over 60 journalists across African countries, including Nigeria.
World Health Organisation (WHO) Team Lead for the Expanded Special Project for the Elimination of NTDs, Regional Office for Africa, Dr Maria Rebollo Polo, said NTDs have continued to impose human and economic burden on many communities in Africa
“Striking figures…Since 2010, the number of people requiring intervention for NTDs has fallen by 695 million, including 239 million between 2020 and 2023 alone”, Polo disclosed.
She said the decline of global funding particularly affected the progress in the elimination of some tropical diseases in some countries on the continent.
“The year 2025 is particularly noteworthy, as nine new countries obtained elimination validation, including Niger for onchocerciasis; Guinea for trypanosomiasis; Mauritania and Burundi for trachoma; and Senegal, Kenya, Egypt, and Papua New Guinea for other pathologies”, she disclosed.
She urged countries to begin integrating their NTD interventions into their primary healthcare systems already started by some nations on the continent.
She identified limited political visibility of NTDs in countries, donor dependency, insufficient qualified personnel, weak integration into national health systems, poor sanitation and hygiene as major challenges affecting the campaign for the elimination of NTDs in Africa.
Other public health experts who were panellists at the media conversation highlighted the need for regional, national and sub-national governments to make elimination of NTDs a priority agenda.
Nigeria has made significant progress on the elimination of some neglected tropical diseases like guinea worm, but there still remain others, including snakebite envenoming, yaw, scabies, dengue, sleeping sickness, leprosy and rabies.
