New data released by WHO shows that more than 60% of the people suffering from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) have received treatment in 2015.
According to the World Health Organisation, record-breaking progress has been made in the past 10 years in tackling tropical diseases, that affect one in six people globally.
As per the new data released by the organisation, more than 60% of the 1.6 billion people suffering from NTDs like elephantiasis and sleeping sickness have been treated in the year 2015.
In the same year, only around 3,000 cases of sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis) were recorded, which is an 89% reduction since the year 2000.
Also, there were only 25 cases of Guinea worm disease, a debilitating condition that affected almost 3.5 million people in the year 1986.
This transformational progress has been the result of one of the most effective partnerships in global health, the WHO said in a report to the Guardian.
“The WHO has observed record-breaking progress towards bringing ancient scourges like sleeping sickness and elephantiasis to their knees,” said Dr Margaret Chan, the organisation’s general director.
The number of people requiring treatment for NTDs has decreased from 2 billion in 2010 to 1.6 billion in 2015.
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