HAVANA, Jan 31 (NNN-ACN) — On the occasion of World Day for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), the Cuban Ministry of Public Health ( MINSAP) stressed the importance of including these diseases in the international health agenda, with a view to eradicating them.
The agency pointed out on its official Facebook page that these diseases are widespread in the poorest regions of the world, where water safety, sanitation and access to health care are far from being optimal.
Caused by diverse pathogens, such as viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi and toxins, NTDs affect more than a billion people, yet they are almost absent from the global health agenda, receive little funding and are associated with stigma and social exclusion, MINSAP warned.
This day, it added, is dedicated to raising awareness of the devastating impact of these diseases, and this year, under the slogan “Act now, act together”, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for investment in the fight against these conditions.
According to the text, by the end of 2022, 47 countries had eliminated at least one, and the programs to combat them achieved better results in that year than in 2021.
Neglected tropical diseases, according to WHO, are a heterogeneous group of 20 conditions prevalent mainly in tropical areas that affect people in impoverished communities.
NTDs include dengue, chikungunya, leprosy, rabies, scabies, foodborne trematodiases, snakebite poisoning, echinococcosis dracunculiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, chromoblastomycosis, and other deep mycoses.
In 2021, WHO recognized January 30 as World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness of the devastating impact of these diseases and urging everyone to join the growing momentum for their control, elimination and eradication.
The date of celebration coincides with the anniversary of the 2012 London Declaration on NTDs, in which countries and organizations agreed to invest efforts for the prevention and eradication of these diseases, which WHO aims to end by 2030. — NNN-ACN
