Neglected tropical diseases: progress towards recovery from COVID-19 – 2022 update

Overview

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of conditions of bacterial, viral, parasitic, fungal and noncommunicable origin. In spite of their diversity, NTDs share a common geographical and social context: their burden is predominantly located in tropical areas across the globe, and they mainly affect resource poor communities – their correlation with poverty is so close that they are sometimes referred to as diseases of neglected populations. The epidemiology of NTDs is complex and often related to environmental conditions. Many are vector-borne, have animal reservoirs and are associated with complex life cycles: all these factors make their public-health control challenging.

From 2015–2019, over 1 billion people received interventions against at least one NTD each year. As a consequence, great progress has been made in reducing NTD prevalence and incidence. During 2020–2021, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic had a massive social and economic impact worldwide, causing unprecedented disruption across the full range of social and economic activity, including essential health service provision. The delivery of health services required for the prevention, control, elimination and eradication of NTDs has not been spared.