Togo has been acknowledged by the World Health Organization as being the first nation worldwide to eradicate four neglected tropical diseases.
The WHO announced this at its meeting of the Regional Committee for Africa on August 22 in Lomé.
Dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease), elephantiasis (lymphatic filariasis), human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), and trachoma have all been successfully eradicated in Togo between 2011 and 2022.
Despite the fact that there are 20 diseases known as NTDs that can be prevented and treated, 1.7 billion individuals worldwide still need NTD therapies. Many NTDs render adults and children unable to work, crippling, disfiguring, and disabling them by prohibiting them from attending school.
In a statement from the Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases, Associate Consultant Kingsley Ochieng stated that Togo was the first nation recognized by the WHO as having won its battle against four NTDs, and that it did so in under eleven years.
“Togo previously achieved transmission-free status for Guinea worm disease in 2011. In 2017, it became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to eliminate elephantiasis as a public health problem and, in 2020, became the first African country to achieve the same status with sleeping sickness.
“To eliminate these diseases, Togo adopted a two-pronged approach that focused on first, interrupting transmission and preventing occurrence of new infections; and secondly, treating or managing diseases, their associated morbidity, and their complications, to alleviate suffering,” it said.
“I appreciate you for your praise of my country’s achievements in the eradication of neglected tropical illnesses,” stated the president of Togo, Faure Gbassingbe. The devotion and commitment of all health actors working in our nation at all levels to protect this priceless good known as health has made this accomplishment possible. We have prioritized health and made it a key component of our development strategies. To ensure that everyone has access to basic services and health coverage is one of the goals of the government’s roadmap to 2025.
“The elimination of dracunculiasis, lymphatic filariasis, human African trypanosomiasis and trachoma is an exceptional achievement and a gift not only for the people of Togo today but for decades to come,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
