| Summary: | "Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) blight the lives of a billion people worldwide and threaten the health of millions more. These ancient companions of poverty weaken impoverished populations, frustrate the achievement of health in the Millennium Development Goals and impede global developlment outcomes. A more reliable evaluation of their significance to public health and economies has convinced governments, donors, the pharmaceutical industry and other agencies, including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), to invest in preventing and controlling this diverse group of diseases. Global efforts to control "hidden" diseases, such as dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease), leprosy, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis and yaws, have yielded progressive health gains including the imminent eradication of dracunculiasis. Since 1989 (when most endemic countries began reporting monthly from each endemic village), the number of new dracunculiasis cases has fallen from 892 055 in 12 endemic countries to 3190 in 4 countries in 2009, a decrease of more than 99%. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends five public-health strategies for the prevention and control of NTDs: preventive chemotherapy; intensified case-management; vector control; the provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene; and veterinary public health (that is, applying veterinary sciences to ensure the health and well-being of humans). Although one approach may predominate for control of a specific disease or group of diseases, evidence suggests that more effective control results when all five approaches are combined and delivered locally." - p. vii
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