![]() ![]() “In every case, the outcome is exciting,” says Fall. WHO Global Report on Neglected Tropical Diseases 2023ĭiseases can either be completely eliminated, or be eliminated as a public-health problem, says Ibrahima Socé Fall, director of the WHO’s Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases. Togo, Malawi, Saudi Arabia and Vanuatu got rid of trachoma, a bacterial infection that causes blindness, and Uganda and Equatorial Guinea eliminated a type of African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, which is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei (see ‘How many countries have eliminated a disease?’). Last year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo eliminated guinea worm disease, which is caused by a parasite, joining 16 other countries that have rid themselves of the condition. The diseases generally affect people living in impoverished communities and can be caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites or toxins. NTDs are a group of around 20 conditions that affect more than one billion people worldwide but have been largely overlooked by global health agendas. ![]() The latest WHO report comes two years after the agency released a plan to control or eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by 2030. “That’s a tremendous effort,” says Francisca Mutapi, a global-health specialist at the University of Edinburgh, UK. That takes the number of countries that have done so since the late 1990s to almost 50, with 11 banishing more than one disease. Malawi, Vanuatu and Uganda were among the eight nations that eliminated a neglected tropical disease last year, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report. ![]() Treatment for Guinea worm disease, caused by a parasite, can be painful, but the condition has been eliminated in almost 20 countries. ![]()
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