Midterm report shows steady progress, but funding is 30% below pre-pandemic levels and dengue cases hit a record
By Bunmi Yekini
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that 63 countries had eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease (NTD) by June 2026, up from 42 at the end of 2020, in a midterm assessment of its 2021-2030 road map.
The number of people requiring NTD interventions fell to 1.41 billion in 2024, down 36% since 2010 and 19% since 2020, according to the WHO’s Global report on neglected tropical diseases 2026. Cases of sleeping sickness have dropped 98% since 1999, and Guinea worm disease fell to a record low of 10 human cases in 2025.
“Elimination of neglected tropical diseases is one of the standout success stories of global health,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“However, the hard-won gains we have made could easily be lost, so countries and partners must step up, not step back, by increasing domestic financing, sustaining external support and integrating NTD services into primary health care,” he said.
The report also flagged setbacks. Dengue cases reached a record 15.1 million in 2024, deaths from vector-borne NTDs have risen and efforts to eradicate yaws are off track, the WHO said. Only three disease-specific indicators reached their 2025 milestones, and gaps in data, including data broken down by gender, make progress hard to measure.
Funding is a major concern. A small number of donors accounted for nearly 80% of international development assistance for NTDs between 2018 and 2024, leaving programmes vulnerable to abrupt cuts, the WHO said. Such reductions have disrupted mass treatment, case management, surveillance and vector control, and put donated medicines at risk of expiring. Overall resources remain 30% below pre-COVID-19 levels, and dedicated funding for some programmes has all but disappeared.
New tools are becoming available. They include a child-friendly formulation of arpraziquantel for schistosomiasis and generic miltefosine for leishmaniasis, both prequalified by the WHO, as well as a dengue vaccine. Two chikungunya vaccines and new medicines for onchocerciasis and human African trypanosomiasis have also won regulatory approval.
The report said more affected countries are building NTDs into national health strategies, essential service packages and domestic budgets. The number of countries adopting the WHO-recommended skin NTD strategy has already exceeded the 2030 target.
The road map aims by 2030 to cut by 90% the number of people requiring NTD interventions, reduce NTD-related disability and premature death by 75%, enable 100 countries to eliminate at least one NTD, and eradicate Guinea worm disease and yaws.
The WHO called on affected countries to increase domestic financing and integrate NTD work into universal health coverage, and on donors to broaden support across interventions. It urged recipient countries to diversify funding sources to reduce dependency.