The Problem
- Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are a group of debilitating conditions linked to poverty that can cause blindness, chronic pain, severe disability, disfigurement, and malnutrition.
- An estimated 1.4 billion people – one sixth of the world’s population –are infected with one or more NTDs; another two billion people are at risk. The majority live in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
- Neglected Tropical Diseases cause approximately 534,000 deaths annually.
- NTDs promote poverty, stigmatize, disable and inhibit individuals from caring for themselves and their families.
- The seven most prevalent NTDs are: the two blinding diseases of onchocerciasis and trachoma; the three soil-transmitted helminthes (worms), hookworm, roundworm and whipworm; schistosomiasis (snail fever); and lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis).
What HKI Is Doing
- There are inexpensive, safe and effective treatments available for Neglected Tropical Diseases. HKI’s challenge is to make the most of every dollar and resource available to control these diseases.
- A blueprint for the control or elimination of NTDs was established by a group of private, public and international organizations. This rapid impact package, which would include four drugs to treat seven NTDs with the majority of drugs donated by pharmaceutical companies, would cost only $.50 per person per year.
- For two decades, Helen Keller International has been at the forefront of combating the two blinding Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), trachoma and onchocerciasis. One of our core strengths is layering our programs in order to increase impact, and we saw an opportunity to treat other NTDs within current program strategies for only a small increase in cost.
- Recently, in several countries, HKI expanded its ivermectin distribution programs (CDTI) that control onchocerciasis to include donated albendazole, which in combination controls lymphatic filariasis (LF).
