How neglected tropical diseases reduce the quality of life in Africa

A municipal council worker dispenses insecticide using a fogging machine during a dengue prevention spraying in Kuala Lumpur in February 20114. East Africa has a high burden of the neglected tropical diseases. AFP PHOTO | MOHD RASFAN 

By CHRISTABEL LIGAMI, TEA Special Correspondent

In Summary

• One in six people in the world suffers from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), says a UN report.
• Of the 1.5 billion people affected by NTDs, the majority live in sub-Saharan Africa.
• The diseases thrive where people live in extreme poverty with poor sanitation and little access to healthcare — usually in remote rural areas, urban slums or conflict zones — and disproportionately affect women and children.

One in six people in the world suffers from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), says a UN report.

Neglected Tropical Diseases (any one of 17 parasitic and bacterial infections including dengue fever, leprosy and sleeping sickness) are seen as precursors to such widely known diseases as malaria and tuberculosis.

In addition to the above, there are rabies, trachoma, buruli ulcer, yaws, Chagas, leishmaniases, taeniasis, Guinea-worm disease, echinococcosis, foodborne trematodiases, lymphatic filariasis, river blindness, schistosomiasis, and soil-transmitted helminthiase.

Of the 1.5 billion people affected by NTDs, the majority live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are among the 10 countries in African with the highest burden of the diseases.

Thirty million of the 168 million people requiring preventive for schistosomiasis in Africa are in the three East African countries.

Dengue fever, the report says, affects about 390 million people every year, and is particularly prevalent on the East African coast of Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti.

“Outbreaks are becoming more frequent in Tanzania where multiple virus serotypes co-circulate and where the disease is probably expanding its geographical reach,” says the report.

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According to Rosemary Sang, head of the arbovirology laboratory of the centre for virus research at Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri), NTDs are considered “neglected,” because they are treatable, yet the money and resources are not available in many developing nations. Instead, it is up to agencies and networks to get the necessary information and treatment to the people.

“Compared with malaria for example, they receive little funding or attention from national governments and medical and donor communities despite the vast numbers of people affected,” said Dr Sang.

“They disable and trap the poor in a cycle of poverty by undercutting adults’ ability to work productively and take care of their families,” she added.

These diseases thrive where people live in extreme poverty with poor sanitation and little access to healthcare — usually in remote rural areas, urban slums or conflict zones — and disproportionately affect women and children.

“A few of the diseases, including rabies and anthrax, kill relatively quickly, but the majority infect people for several years and are more likely to maim than kill. These include river blindness, sleeping sickness, elephantiasis, Chagas disease, guinea-worm disease and leprosy,” said Dr Sang.  

However, the good news is that there is growing awareness internationally, and an increased focus on eliminating the diseases.