Why NTDs?

The Global Network is the only charity in the world promoting broader use of existing medicines to treat all seven leading NTDs. These diseases are tied to nearly every major global health issue we face today – water, sanitation, HIV/AIDS, malaria, malnutrition, maternal/child health, to name a few – and impact many socio-economic issues, such as the success of programs to improve education, girl’s empowerment, and economic development.

NTDs disable and debilitate their victims, keeping children out of school and preventing parents from working. They take away any chance that families have of lifting themselves out of poverty.

As a group, NTDs impose a greater health burden than malaria and tuberculosis, and rival that of HIV/AIDS. Schistosomiasis, one of the seven leading NTDs, alone causes nearly 300,000 fatalities each year, making it the second leading parasitic killer in the world after malaria.

While it’s hard to ignore the huge impact NTDs have on people’s lives, NTDs are not well known diseases. Similarly, few people know just how simple their solution is: since most NTD medicine is donated by major drug companies, the cost to treat and eventually eliminate these diseases averages 50 cents per person, per year.

We fight these diseases because of the horrific impact that they have on poor communities. And because we know they can be beaten by the end of this decade.

The world is now paying attention to these [neglected] diseases and making progress in unprecedented ways, with ambitious goals, excellent interventions, and growing evidence of multiple benefits for health.

—Director-General of the WHO Dr. Margaret Chan