It’s likely you’ve heard of malaria, HIV-AIDs and tuberculosis. These three diseases continue to have a massive impact on human health across the globe. You may not be familiar, however, with schistosomiasis, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis or trachoma, which fall under the umbrella of “neglected tropical diseases” (or NTDs for short).
What Are Neglected Tropical Diseases?
NTDs comprise a range of illnesses mostly caused by viruses, fungi, bacteria and parasites. Together, these include at least 20 conditions that severely impact the most vulnerable people in the world. Schistosomiasis, for example, is caused by parasitic worms released by freshwater snails. Over 200 million people worldwide are affected by it, according to the WHO, with nearly 12,000 deaths occurring from the disease each year.
Maria-Gloria Basáñez, a professor and chair of neglected tropical diseases at Imperial College London, underlines that these diseases overwhelmingly impact the “bottom billion of the world’s population”.
