WHO announces unprecedented progress in eradication of 17 NTDs

Combating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) has seen "unprecedented progress", according to a WHO report on NTDs published 16 January 2013

New public health strategies, improved supply of cost-effective medicines and global support mean that the 17 neglected diseases are closer to being controlled or eliminated, the WHO's report 'Sustaining the drive to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases' finds.

Jean Jannin, coordinator of the WHO's Innovative and Intensified Disease Management team, has stated that innovations in diagnostic tools, drug development and control strategies have contributed to the progress made in combating neglected tropical diseases, but innovation is only part of the solution.  "The WHO supports all kinds of innovation, but we cannot sit back and wait for research and development [R&D] to produce the magic bullet. It has to be done in parallel with control programmes in affected countries," he says.  "We are trying to control these diseases with tools that are presently available, while promoting and supporting R&D for these kinds of complex diseases," Jannin added.

Jeremiah Norris, director of the Center for Science in Public Policy, at the Hudson Institute, United States, criticises the WHO's report on the grounds that it could have expanded upon the social and economic impact of NTDs "on the poorest 1.4 billion in our world".  He says, "our recent report concluded that neglected tropical diseases are the best buy in global public health today. NTD programmes yield both a health and an economic outcome at pennies per person served."

To download the Second WHO report on neglected tropical disease click here

To download the Center for Science in Public Policy's 'Social and Economic Impact Review on Neglected Tropical Diseases' click here