The World Health Assembly (WHA) agreed on a roadmap to tackle 20 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and disease groups that affect hundreds of millions of people. The roadmap aims to improve coordination and collaboration among health partners, integrate and mainstream approaches, and promote greater ownership by governments and communities.

The roadmap was agreed during the 73rd meeting of the WHA, which convened from 9-14 November 2020. The WHA is the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO) and meets annually.

The new roadmap features targets that align with the SDGs. 

The 2021-2030 roadmap replaces the first roadmap, which was published in 2012. Although the WHO said “significant progress” has been made towards the targets in the earlier roadmap, those targets will not be achieved.

The new roadmap, titled ‘Ending the neglect to attain the Sustainable Development Goals: a roadmap for neglected tropical diseases 2021-2030,’ sets global targets and milestones to prevent, control, eliminate, and eradicate the selected diseases and disease groups. The roadmap features cross-cutting targets aligned with the SDGs. The targets include:

• a 90% reduction in the number of people requiring treatment for neglected tropical diseases;
• elimination of at least one NTD in 100 countries;
• a 75% reduction in the disability-adjusted life years related to NTDs; and
• eradicating two diseases: dracunculiasis, commonly known as Guinea-worm disease; and yaws, a chronic skin disease that primarily affects children under 15 years of age.

The WHO has warned that emerging drug resistance could threaten decades of advances in addressing neglected tropical diseases. The WHO recommends continuing to monitor drug efficacy and called for developing “an appropriate arsenal of second-line drugs” to ensure continued protections against neglected tropical diseases. The WHO plans to increase awareness and understanding of global antimicrobial resistance during the annual World Antimicrobial Awareness Week from 18-24 November.

Mwelecele Ntuli Malecela, WHO, said the 2021-2030 roadmap addresses critical gaps across multiple diseases and “integrates and mainstreams approaches within national health systems and coordinates action across sectors.” Malecela added that the roadmap provides opportunities to evaluate and adjust programmatic actions as needed. 

In SDG target 3.3, governments commit to, by 2030, ending the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases, and combatting hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases. [WHO press release on roadmap] [WHO press release on WHA outcomes] [UN News story] [WHA webpage] [Roadmap landing page]