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COVID gives the fight against malaria, NTDs a shot in the arm

COVID gives the fight against malaria, NTDs a shot in the arm

SETH ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY AT the Kigali Summit last month, states, donors and pharmaceutical pledged over US$4 billion of new funding to end malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). It was the first in a series of commitments to bolster progress against the aforementioned diseases in Africa where malaria still kills thousands. Nature journal analysis shows there were an estimated 241 million cases of malaria and 627,000 deaths globally, with 95 per cent of these cases reported in Africa. But this could change as governments, using lessons learned to battle coronavirus, cooperate and adapt healthcare systems in an invigorated…
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Neglected tropical diseases threaten a whole new generation, but it is not too late to avert disaster

Neglected tropical diseases threaten a whole new generation, but it is not too late to avert disaster

ANATOLE MANZI GROWING up in rural Rwanda, I thought that my constant abdominal pain was an inescapable condition of childhood. I was surrounded by my friends, all with distended stomachs, hair loss from malnutrition, chronic conjunctivitis, or worse.  Without available treatments, parents would coach their children to endure the pain. Thirty years later, I  visited my home village as a public health specialist overseeing health systems strengthening at Partners In Health, a leading global health organization. There, I met old friends suffering from blindness, and chronic physical and mental impairments. They were afflicted from advanced forms of the same Neglected…
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10 facts about the most dangerous diseases you’ve never heard of

10 facts about the most dangerous diseases you’ve never heard of

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.…
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