The WHO has praised Togo 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 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.
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 14 billion treatments have been donated by pharmaceutical companies. Three months ago, world leaders meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, reconfirmed their commitments and agreed to eradicating 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 percent 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 said.
Last year, the organization warned that UK government aid cuts could have a devastating impact on progress to tackle NTDs.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was