Ethiopia improved its performance in tackling a range of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) between 2015 and 2017, according to statistics released at the African Union Summit. But the country has been urged to further increase work to eradicate what are widely known as ‘diseases of poverty’. These five diseases affect 1.6 billion people worldwide – one in five on the planet – including over 600 million people in Africa. All five NTDs can be prevented or treated with medicines that are donated for free to endemic countries by pharmaceutical companies. In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, there were 630 million people in need of treatment for at least one NTD in 2015.

Source: News Business Ethiopia February 09, 2019 15:45 UTC