NITA BHALLA AS the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic, resources are being sucked away from the fight against a host of debilitating diseases that affect 1.7 billion of the poorest people on the planet, medical experts have warned. Yesterday, charities marked World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day, seeking to draw attention to a diverse group of communicable diseases that still cause immense suffering around the world, even though they can be prevented or cured. They include leprosy, Chagas disease, intestinal worms, dengue and chikungunya, Guinea worm disease, scabies, trachoma and schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis or elephantiasis, yaws, river blindness and sleeping sickness.…