WHO estimates that over 1.6 billion of the world’s population should be targeted by prevention and treatment activities for at least one of these diseases, every year.
In addition to significant mortality and morbidity - approximately 200,000 deaths and 19 million disability adjusted life years (DALYs) lost annually, NTDs cost developing communities the equivalent of billions of United States dollars each year in direct health costs, loss of productivity and reduced socioeconomic and educational attainment. They are also responsible for other consequences such as disability, stigmatization, social exclusion and discrimination and place considerable financial strain on patients and their families.
In spite of this, NTDs have historically ranked very low and almost absent from the global health policy agenda – only to gain recognition in 2015 with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG target 3.3). SDG3 can therefore be achieved only if the NTD goals are met but, because interventions to tackle NTDs are widely cross-sectoral, increasing their global prioritization can in fact catalyze progress to achieve all SDGs.