The American Centres for Disease Control says NTDs are especially common in tropical areas where people do not have access to clean water or safe ways to dispose of human waste.

According to the WHO, curbing NTDs would be easier when all stakeholders embrace multisectoral actions.

The global health body stated further that its roadmap for neglected tropical diseases covering 2021 to 2030 was already promoting multisectoral actions.

WHO disclosed this in a series of tweets posted on its official Twitter handle on Thursday.

“The roadmap for neglected tropical diseases 2021-2030 promotes multisectoral actions. These actions include, vector control, sanitation and hygiene, human, animal and environmental health, capacity strengthening and education,” WHO said.

The global health body also disclosed that many countries have made progress in the quest to tackle against in the last one year.

“In one decade, significant progress was achieved to #beatNTDs, with 42 countries eliminating at least one disease.

“The roadmap for neglected tropical diseases 2021-2030 builds on this success to progress and to contribute to reaching global goals of UN,” WHO said.

The health agency also stated that the roadmap for neglected tropical diseases 2021-2030 aims to beat NTDs by reducing “the number of people requiring interventions against neglected tropical diseases by 90% by 2030”.

Recall that delegates at the virtual session of the 73rd World Health Assembly held in November 2020 had overwhelmingly endorsed the new roadmap for Neglected Tropical Diseases for 2021−2030.

The WHA is the decision-making body of the WHO and its delegates are from all its member states.

The road map for NTDs 2021-2030 sets out global targets and actions to align and re-focus the work of member countries.

The roadmap sets actions for the next decade, including cross-cutting targets aligned with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set in September 2015 at the UN General Assembly.

source: Punch