WHO Treats One Billion People for NTDs for the Fifth Consecutive year.

Neglected tropical diseases: treating more than one billion people for the fifth consecutive year

On the 25 September 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) published data showing that more than one billion people were treated in 2019 for at least one of the five neglected tropical diseases1 (NTDs) amenable to prevention, control and elimination through large-scale preventive treatment campaigns.

This is the fifth successive year the global NTD community has crossed the billion.

“This record achievement is not about numbers, but the work of volunteers and health-care workers who have contributed to improving the lives of people affected by NTDs, who mostly live in rural and marginalized areas,” said Dr Mwelecele Ntuli Malecela, Director, WHO Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases. “It is the result of robust collaboration with health ministries, local governments, communities, implementing partners, industry and stakeholders, without whose support this would not have happened.”