Togo has been praised by the World Health Organization for becoming the first country in the world to eliminate four neglected tropical diseases.
WHO this week presented the West African country with an outstanding achievement award for eliminating guinea worm, lymphatic filariasis, sleeping sickness and trachoma in just 11 years.
“Togo has achieved a great feat,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “This achievement is an example for the rest of Africa and shows what is possible when health becomes a priority.”
The country eliminated Guinea worm in 2011, then became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to eliminate lymphatic filariasis, in 2017, and sleeping sickness, in 2020. This year, it eliminated with success the trachoma.
The President of Togo, Faure Gnassingbé, said: “Health is a priority that we have put at the center of our development policies.”
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of 20 preventable and treatable conditions that are often left out of health budgets and global funding priorities.
Efforts to control or eradicate the diseases intensified in 2012, when 100 donor countries, private philanthropists, pharmaceutical companies, research institutions and civil society organizations came together to endorse the London Declaration to Control or Eliminate 10 NTD in 2020.
Since 2012, 46 countries have eliminated at least one NTD and pharmaceutical companies have provided more than 14 billion treatments.
Three months ago, world leaders meeting in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, reconfirmed their commitments and agreed to eradicate NTDs by 2030.
Around 1.7 billion people worldwide are still affected by NCDs, which can disfigure and disable, trapping individuals and entire communities in cycles of extreme poverty.
About 40% of people affected by NTDs live in Africa. The number of people needing treatment for at least one disease on the continent is slowly declining. In 2015, 630 million people needed treatment; by 2020 the number had dropped to 598 million.
Thoko Elphick-Pooley, director of the global partnership Uniting to Fight Neglected Tropical Diseases, said Togo’s success was due to “committed country and political ownership”. “I hope that leaders across Africa will be inspired by the incredible actions taken by Togo to transform the health of its citizens,” he added.
Last year, the organization warned that cuts to UK government aid could have a devastating impact on progress in tackling NTDs.