Nigeria Ranks 17 In NTDs Treatment Coverage Index

A scorecard by the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) shows that Nigeria has mass treatment coverage index of 48 per cent for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in 2016, ranking it 17 out of 47 countries.
The countries include Swaziland, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda, Liberia, Cabo Verde, Benin, Cameroon, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Zambia, Guinea, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Tanzania,  Zimbabwe, Kenya and Mali.
Others are Central African Republic, Eritrea, Sudan, Mozambique, Burundi, Congo, Chad, The Gambia, Angola, Djibouti, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan,  Botswana, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia, Niger, Comoros, Equitorial Guinea, Lesotho, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe  and Somalia.
NTDS are a mixture of treatable and preventable diseases that place heavy burden on over one billion people on the planet.
They include lymphatic filariasis (commonly known as elephantiasis), onchocerciasis (known as river blindness), schistosomiasis (known as snail fever and bilharzia), soil-transmitted helminthes, trachoma (commonly known as ophthalmia or granular conjunctivitis) and guinea worm among others.
The ALMA, for the first time in its annual scorecard on disease progress had added NTDs in its presentation at the 30th African Union Heads of State Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday. The scorecard, which is reviewed by African heads of state every year, put NTDs alongside malaria and maternal and child health as top health priorities for the continent.
A statement by Associate of the Global Health Strategies, U.S, Ms Emily Schacter said that the index reported progress on the five most common NTDs including lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminths and trachoma.