More than five million individuals in Kaduna State face potential threats of river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, bilharziasis, and intestinal worms, as revealed by Health Commissioner Umma Ahmad.
In a briefing for World Neglected Tropical Disease (NTDs) Day 2024, she highlighted the government’s collaboration with NGOs like Sightsavers to combat these diseases. The state is adopting community engagement strategies for sustainable NTDs control. Nigeria, ranking second globally in NTD burden, contributes the highest burden in Africa.
The World NTD Day serves as a global awareness initiative, emphasizing the need to address these diseases affecting over one billion people worldwide. The recent WHO roadmap for 2021-2030 outlines ambitious targets for global NTD elimination.
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She said: “Kaduna government is charting a new course of community engagement to tackle NTDs for sustainable development.”
“Every January 30 has been set aside by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to sensitise global communities on the burden of NTDs, which affects more than one billion people across the globe, with about 149 countries faced with these diseases and Africa bearing about half of the burden.”
“The World NTD Day is an opportunity to re-energise the momentum to end the suffering from these 20 diseases that are caused by a variety of pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi and toxins,” she said.
“The recent rollout of the 10-year NTDs roadmap for the period 2021 to 2030 by WHO on January 28, 2021, which proposed ambitious targets and innovative approaches towards tackling NTDs, provides a clear blueprint and direction towards NTDs elimination globally,” the commissioner stressed.
