More than one billion people around the world are affected by neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). NTDs mostly occur in tropical climates and disproportionately affect people who are already vulnerable, whether due to poverty or marginalization. These diseases are neglected because they are not profitable to research, so there is too little research for better treatments and diagnostics.
30 January is World NTD Day: As part of our work developing urgently needed treatments for people with neglected diseases, this day is an important moment for us to raise awareness.
Advocating for better science for the most neglected
We used social media to raise awareness about NTDs and the need for innovation to develop better treatments to eliminate these diseases. Thank you to all the supporters who helped us advocate for a world without NTDs.
Eliminating sleeping sickness in Guinea
Once the most affected country in West Africa, Guinea announced on 30 January 2025 that it has received WHO validation confirming the elimination of sleeping sickness as a public health problem. This is a major milestone in our collective efforts to eliminate this deadly disease.
Our short film ‘Bölët Mouna’ takes you inside Guinea’s quest to eliminate sleeping sickness.
Our Executive Director Dr Luis Pizarro and DR Congo Director Chirac Bulanga attended the official ceremony in Conakry organized by the Ministry of Health of Guinea to celebrate this achievement with partners.
We thank our partners and supporters for sharing this news on social media.
Neglected tropical diseases in the media
Media attention plays a key role in raising awareness about NTDs, so we were pleased to see the world’s media pay attention to NTDs and the elimination of sleeping sickness in Guinea with some prominent reporting:
- The Telegraph: Guinea has wiped out sleeping sickness – will the rest of Africa follow?
- Le Monde: Après le retrait des Etats-Unis de l’OMS, le secteur de la santé mondiale anticipe les dégâts humains et financiers
- El País: “La mosca tsetsé se siente atraída por el azul”: así ha conseguido Guinea eliminar la enfermedad del sueño como problema de salud pública
- NTV Kenya: Kala-azar burden in Baringo county
- Infobae: Enfermedad de Chagas: más del 70% de los afectados desconocen su condición
- Devex: The new reality of R&D funding for neglected tropical diseases
- RFI – Afrique midi: Maladies tropicales négligées: «Les gouvernements et les donateurs doivent collaborer avec les scientifiques»
- The Week: Where does India stand in its fight against neglected tropical diseases?
- The Star: Guinea eliminates sleeping sickness as a public health problem
- Agence France-Presse: Sleeping sickness eliminated as public health problem in Guinea (here published in Barron’s – also in VOA Afrique, The Economic Times, and elsewhere)
- France Info: “C’est une très bonne nouvelle” : la Guinée élimine à son tour “la maladie du sommeil” et nourrit l’espoir d’une éradication mondiale
- Science Africa: Guinea eliminates sleeping sickness
Bringing attention to neglected tropical diseases around the world
Our teams around the world used the opportunity of World NTD Day to bring much needed attention to neglected tropical diseases – including through a photo exhibition at the Meguro Parasitological Museum in Tokyo, a public education event in Rio de Janeiro’s city centre, and a radio awareness campaign in collaboration with three community radio stations and seven All India Radio stations across Bihar state.
G-FINDER report
The 2024 G-FINDER Neglected Disease R&D Report highlights worrying trends in funding for medical innovation to meet the needs of the world’s most vulnerable people. The comprehensive analysis shows substantial drops in both public and private sector funding for neglected disease R&D, with overall funding down nearly USD 650 million from its 2018 peak and public funding at its lowest since 2015. Funding was at or near record lows for kinetoplastid diseases (including leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and sleeping sickness) and helminth infections (including river blindness, schistosomiasis, and lymphatic filariasis). The findings raise particular concern in the context of alarming and sudden recent shifts in US support for scientific research and collaboration and essential global health programmes – with both immediate impacts and long-term implications only beginning to unfold.
