Ending Diseases that Impact More than a Billion People

“B” is for Billion

Over one billion people are affected by Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), a group of parasitic, bacterial, and viral diseases that affect poor and marginalized people disproportionately. If untreated in early stages, these diseases can cause permanent mobility issues, blindness, pain, and other life long disabilities. Many people living with NTDs are stigmatized, are absent from or cannot participate fully in school, or are unable to find work putting them at greater risk of poverty.

The Upshot

The upshot is that these diseases are treatable and preventable. Since 2006, the U.S. Government, through USAID, has worked alongside more than 30 countries to fight five of the most life-altering NTDs with safe, effective medicines. National governments operate mass treatment campaigns to provide people with medicines, lowering the amount of disease over time in hopes of slowing and eventually stopping disease transmission.

A Few More “Billions” 

Better yet? The medicines are free. Incredibly, the billions of treatments used to mitigate these five NTDs are donated by just six pharmaceutical companies. USAID capitalized on this contribution, enabling the world’s largest investment in the people, processes, and delivery systems desperately needed to make treatment possible, which ultimately incentivized even greater generosity from the private sector. Every $1 invested by the U.S. leverages $26 in donated medicines for treatment campaigns, totaling $27.6 billion in value to date. USAID-supported country partners have delivered more than 2.8 billion treatments so far.

Eliminating Disease? It Works 

One more piece of good news. This approach to ending NTDs works. Ten USAID-supported countries have successfully eliminated one or more NTDs. Within five years, 15 additional countries are targeted to reach this goal. But the work is far from finished. USAID continues to engage with disease endemic countries to plan for sustainable services for these and other NTDs, build political and financial support, and establish commitments that will drive momentum.

We hope you will join us to end the neglect by:

• Reading about how Uganda is defeating a disabling disease

• Hearing from USAID’s Assistant Administrator for Global Health, Dr. Atul Gawande

• Learning more from the Voice of America and about the recent advocacy day

• Watching these short videos to learn more about NTDs

• Showing your support to #BeatNTDs on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter

Photo credits: USAID; RTI International