The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged governments to strengthen and maintain over time their actions to protect the "fragile gains" achieved against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and to address the deficiencies that still persist.
This message is part of the publication of the new global report on NTDs, released this Wednesday, which reviews the status of the elimination of these diseases and serves as an intermediate assessment of the 2021-2030 roadmap promoted by the WHO, aimed at improving outcomes in control, elimination and eradication.
According to data from the document, up to last June a total of 63 countries had managed to eliminate at least one NTD, which is 21 more than at the end of 2020. The plan sets as a goal that by 2030 all States will have eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease and that two of them will be considered eradicated.
The report also highlights the decline in the number of people who need treatment, estimated at 1.410 billion in 2024, which represents a 36 percent reduction compared with 2010 and 19 percent less compared with 2020.
As an example of this progress, it notes that cases of African trypanosomiasis have been reduced by 98 percent since 1999, while dracunculiasis reached in 2025 a historic low of only 10 human cases.
The document also emphasizes the role of scientific innovation, which has made it possible to have new prevention and treatment tools. Among the therapeutic options, it mentions arpraziquantel, suitable for children and prequalified by the WHO for schistosomiasis; generic miltefosine for leishmaniasis; and a vaccine against dengue.
In addition, two vaccines against chikungunya have been authorized and new drugs targeting onchocerciasis and human African trypanosomiasis.
A marked advance marked by strong inequalities
Despite these advances, the report warns that progress is "uneven" and that neglected tropical diseases continue to affect in a "disproportionate" way the poorest and most vulnerable populations on the planet.
Among the negative indicators, in 2024 dengue cases reached a historic high of 15.1 million; deaths linked to vector-borne NTDs increased, and the goal of eradicating yaws is lagging behind.
Only three specific disease indicators met the targets set for 2025: the development of a vaccine against chikungunya, the reduction of the case fatality rate for dengue, and the availability of poly-specific antivenoms to treat snakebite envenoming.
The WHO also emphasizes the absence of complete and up-to-date data, including breakdowns by gender, which makes it difficult to accurately assess progress.
Funding in decline and call to action
The WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has argued that "the eradication of neglected tropical diseases is one of the biggest success stories in global health". However, he has warned that the progress achieved "could easily be lost".
To avoid a setback, he has called for increasing domestic funding and sustaining international support. The report notes that resources allocated to neglected tropical diseases remain 30 percent lower than pre-Covid-19 levels, and that the specific funding for some programs has practically disappeared.
International development aid targeted at NTDs remains, moreover, highly concentrated: between 2018 and 2024, nearly 80 percent of the funds came from a very small number of donors. This concentration increases the fragility of programs in the face of sudden cuts, which have caused interruptions in mass treatment campaigns, case management, surveillance and vector control, while also putting donated medicines at risk of expiry.
At the same time, an increasing number of countries are strengthening their internal involvement, by incorporating NTDs into their national health strategies, essential service packages, and their budgets. They are also moving forward with the integration of interventions for multiple NTDs through shared services, an indicator that has already surpassed the target set for 2030.
The report encourages deepening work along these lines and extending actions to cover the gaps identified. "The goal is not only to eliminate diseases, but to free communities from disability, disfigurement, death, and intergenerational poverty," the WHO Director-General stressed.