India Joins the World to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD)
The second annual World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Day will be celebrated on January 30, 2021. India has also joined the world to combat the Neglected Tropical Diseases.
What are Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)?
- Neglected Tropical Diseases are the tropical infections caused by viruses, protozoa, bacteria, and parasitic worms.
- These are the diseases that get less importance and treatment as compared to the major diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.
- NTDs affect over 1.7 billion people living in the poorest countries.
- These diseases disable and disfigure people, make them blind, etc.
- WHO has identified 20 NTDs, however, other organizations have other definitions too.
- Some of the NTDs are Buruli ulcer, Lymphatic filariasis, Rabies, Dengue and Chikungunya, Trachoma, Snakebite envenoming, etc.
Key Points
- India will join the world to combat NTDs by lighting up the Qutub Minar along with several other monuments across the world to observe the day.
- On the 2nd World NTD Day, over 50 landmarks from 26 countries will light up to celebrate the day and India has also joined the world in this.
- It should be noted that India has the largest burden of neglected tropical diseases in the world with at least 11 of these major NTDs.
World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Day
The World NTD Day was first observed on January 30, 2020. The day is celebrated to mark the anniversary of the 2012 London Declaration on NTDs. It was a declaration signed to end and prevent transmission of Neglected Tropical Diseases. Officials from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Bank, WHO, 13 major pharmaceutical companies, and government representatives from United Arab Emirates, US, Bangladesh, UK, Brazil, Tanzania, and Mozambique participated in a meeting at the Royal College of Physicians to launch this project.