TOGO ERADICATES FOUR NEGLETED TROPICAL DISEASES
World Health Organization (WHO) celebrates Togo for being the first to eradicate four neglected tropical diseases.
Togo has been praised by the World Health Organization for becoming the first country in the world to eliminate four neglected tropical diseases. The WHO presented the west African country with an outstanding achievement award this week for eliminating Guinea worm, lymphatic filariasis, sleeping sickness and trachoma in just 11 years.“ Togo has achieved a major feat,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa. “This achievement is an example for the rest of Africa and shows what is possible when health is made a priority.”
The country eliminated Guinea worm in 2011, then became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to stamp out lymphatic filariasis, in 2017, and sleeping sickness, in 2020. This year, it successfully eliminated trachoma. Togo’s president, Faure Gnassingbé, said: “Health is a priority that we have placed at the heart of our development policies.” Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of 20 preventable, treatable conditions that are often left out of health budgets and global funding priorities. Efforts to control or eradicate the diseases were ramped up in 2012 when 100 donor countries, private philanthropists, pharmaceutical companies, research institutions and civil society organizations came together to endorse the London declaration to control or eliminate 10 NTDs by 2020. Since 2012, 46 countries have eliminated at least one NTD and more than 14bn treatments have been donated by pharmaceutical companies.
Three months ago, world leaders meeting in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, reconfirmed their commitments and agreed to eradicate NTDs by 2030. About 1.7 billion people around the world are still affected by NTDs, which can disfigure and disable, trapping individuals and whole communities in cycles of extreme poverty. About 40% of people affected by NTDs live in Africa. The number of people requiring treatment for at least one disease on the continent is slowly falling. In 2015, 630 million people were in need of treatment; by 2020 the figure had reduced to 598 million. Thoko Elphick-Pooley, the director of the global partnership Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases, said Togo’s success was due to “committed country and political ownership”. “I hope that leaders across Africa are inspired by the incredible actions taken by Togo to transform the health of its citizens,” she added.
Last year, the organisation warned that UK government aid cuts could have a devastating impact on progress to tackle NTDs.… we have a small favour to ask. Tens of millions have placed their trust in the Guardian’s fearless journalism since we started publishing 200 years ago, turning to us in moments of crisis, uncertainty, solidarity and hope. More than 1.5 million supporters, from 180 countries, now power us financially – keeping us open to all, and fiercely independent. Unlike many others, the Guardian has no shareholders and no billionaire owner. Just the determination and passion to deliver high-impact global reporting, always free from commercial or political influence. Reporting like this is vital for democracy, for fairness and to demand better from the powerful.
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