Much as African leaders deserve an applause for leading an advocacy to adopt a resolution to make Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) a human rights issue, they must also be reminded that this should not be the end of the matter, they must be seen to be working to prove that they really mean the words behind the resolution, if they want to defeat this scourge that has destroyed the lives of many on the continent.
The historic resolution was led by the Republic of Malawi, alongside a core group of African member states including Burkina Faso, Kenya, Tanzania, the Gambia and Morocco. It marks the first time NTDs have been formally addressed through a dedicated Human Rights Council resolution – elevating these diseases beyond the health sector and recognising them as issues of dignity, equity, inclusion, and justice. The adoption represents a major milestone in the global fight against NTDs and a powerful acknowledgment that the more than one billion people affected by these diseases can no longer be left behind.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), NTDs are a diverse group of conditions caused by a variety of pathogens (including viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi and toxins) and associated with devastating health, social and economic consequences. These diseases are mainly prevalent among impoverished communities in tropical areas, although some have a much larger geographical distribution. It is estimated that NTDs affect more than one billion people, while the number of people requiring NTD interventions (both preventive and curative) is 1.495 billion.
The WHO said epidemiology of NTDs is complex and often related to environmental conditions. Many of them are vector-borne, have animal reservoirs and are associated with complex life cycles. All these factors make their public-health control challenging.
It is against this background that the adoption of the resolution should be seen as an opportunity for the UN Human Rights Council to advance human rights by ending NTDs, the two which are deeply interconnected goals. The resolution is expected to help elevate these diseases within global and national policy agendas, thereby strengthening accountability. It will also reinforce the links between health, human rights, in order to mobilize greater political will, and resources to accelerate progress towards elimination.
The idea behind the resolution was to draw attention to the fact that, in addition to significant mortality and morbidity – approximately 120,000 deaths and 14.1 million disability adjusted life years (DALYs) lost annually, NTDs cost developing communities the equivalent of billions of dollars each year in direct health costs. It has also led to the loss of productivity and reduced socioeconomic and educational attainment. They are also responsible for other consequences such as disability, stigmatization, social exclusion and discrimination, and place considerable financial strain on patients and their families.
Unfortunately, despite all the havoc that it has caused, NTDs have historically ranked very low, and are almost absent from the global health policy agenda – only to gain recognition in 2015 with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG target 3.3). SDG3 can therefore be achieved only if the NTD goals are met, but because interventions to tackle NTDs are widely cross-sectoral, increasing their global prioritisation can in fact catalyse progress to achieve all SDGs.
To date, 63 countries worldwide have eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease (NTD), demonstrating that sustained political commitment, investment, and partnership can drive transformative progress.
Africa continues to lead global efforts to end these diseases. Malawi itself eliminated trachoma as a public health problem in 2022, alongside previous elimination achievements for lymphatic filariasis and leprosy as public health concerns, while continuing efforts to eliminate additional NTDs by 2030.
Reacting to the adoption of the resolution, Malawi’s minister of health, Madalitso Chidumu Baloyi, said the resolution marked a historic victory for the millions of people affected by neglected tropical diseases around the world.
Baloyi said “Africa has borne a disproportionate burden of these diseases for generations, and African countries have also been leaders in the fight to eliminate them – driving innovation, progress, and political commitment,” adding that, “Malawi is proud to have helped lead this landmark resolution alongside our fellow African member states.”
“By formally recognising the links between NTDs and human rights, the Human Rights Council has affirmed that no person should be denied dignity, opportunity, health, or inclusion because of a preventable and treatable disease,” she added.
Uniting to Combat NTDs, director of advocacy and resource mobilisation, Stuart Halford, said “Africa has also driven some of the world’s greatest progress against NTDs, demonstrating what is possible through political commitment, partnership, and sustained investment.”
“By recognising NTDs as both a health and human rights issue, the Human Rights Council has taken an important step towards accelerating progress against these diseases and improving the lives and rights of millions of people worldwide,” Stuart said.
Alia El-Yassir, director, department for gender, rights, equity and sexual misconduct prevention (GEM), at the WHO welcomed the resolution, which he described as an important recognition that neglected tropical diseases are both a public health and a human rights challenge.
“The resolution creates an opportunity to strengthen rights-based, equity-oriented and people-centred action that tackles the underlying drivers of NTDs, including poverty, inequality, stigma and barriers to essential services, while addressing their disproportionate impacts on women and girls,” El-Yassir said.
Dr Joo-Young Lee, member of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights said the resolution reaffirms that these diseases are not only a public health concern but also a matter of human rights.
“Addressing neglected tropical diseases is not only about realising the right to health. It is also about ensuring the rights to safe water, sanitation, adequate housing, education and access to information, all of which are essential to their prevention and control,” adding that, “the right to health further requires the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of essential medicines and other health products, integrated into universal health coverage and primary health care,” Lee said.
She recalled that, nearly two decades ago, the human rights dimensions of neglected diseases were first documented for the Council. The fact that research and development for these diseases remain persistently underfunded shows that this human rights challenge has yet to be overcome.
Accordingly, Lee said the resolution reaffirmed the obligation of countries to ground national health policies and programmes in equality, non-discrimination, participation and accountability, ensuring equitable access to prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care for all. For this reason, it must now be translated into concrete action, beginning with the OHCHR report that the resolution mandates.
Advocates say the resolution has the potential to catalyse stronger cross-sector action on the underlying conditions that allow NTDs to persist, including inadequate healthcare access, unsafe water and sanitation, poor housing, educational inequities, and stigma and discrimination.
Supporters also describe the resolution as a critical shift in how the world understands NTDs – not only as diseases requiring medical intervention, but as barriers to equality, opportunity, and the realisation of fundamental human rights.
The adoption sends a strong signal that ending NTDs is not only a public health imperative, but also a human rights imperative. A key ask of the resolution is for Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to conduct a consultation analysing the links between human rights and NTDs and providing recommendations for strengthening the integration of human rights considerations into national and global responses to NTDs across the United Nations system.
With the adoption of the resolution,what is expected of the leaders on the continent is to put in place measures to kick out NTDs for good. It is when the diseases are eliminated, that we can see how successful the resolution has been. Otherwise, it will just end up as one of those conference theatrics that receive applause, but end up achieving nothing. This is what sufferers of NTDs do not want.
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Francis Koktuse is a free-lance journalist based in Accra. Currently, he is the local Stringer for the New York Times. He also writes for University World News, as well as Science and Development.Net. He was a Staff Writer for the African Concord, and Africa Economic Digest in London, UK.
