CB Bureau A comprehensive report, published in the open-access
journal Public Library of Science:
Neglected Tropical Diseases, showcases the disproportionately high burden
of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in India and South Asia. These diseases
of poverty continue to plague the approximately 1.5 billion people living in
the region, representing almost a quarter of the global population. Two-thirds
of them (or nearly 1 billion people) live on less than US$2 per day.
The report examines the reasons for the apparent
disconnect between the region’s economic progress and its health systems. A
recent report by the World Bank had put the overall economic growth for South
Asia at seven per cent in 2010.
The eight countries studied in the report are part of
the World Bank’s definition of South Asia – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. India alone accounts for nearly
75 per cent of the total number of people living in South Asia.
The report documents that the NTDs represent a group
of chronic parasitic and related bacterial and viral infections that actually
promote poverty because of their impact on child development, pregnancy
outcome, and worker productivity. It may be noted here that the prevalence of
underweight children in South Asia exceeds 40 per cent in India, Bangladesh,
and Pakistan, where the rates of malnutrition are considered among the highest
in the world.
Co-author Dr Derek A Lobo, consultant of the
Department of Public Health at Manipal University, Mangalore, India, reiterates
that the extreme level of poverty is paralleled by high rates of NTDs. He explains:
‘For example, South Asian countries account for approximately one quarter of
the world’s soil-transmitted helminth infections, one-third or more of the
global deaths from rabies, and one-half or more of the global burden of
lymphatic filariasis, visceral leishmaniasis, and leprosy. These high disease
rates directly relate to the region’s continued struggle with poverty and
economic disparity.’
The article profiles several prevalent diseases in
South Asia and emphasises current efforts to control these diseases, including
visceral leishmaniasis, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis (LF), and soil-transmitted
helminth infection. ‘Although comprehensive programmes to eliminate some of the
most prevalent NTDs are underway, national control programmes for other NTDs
need to be expanded,’ suggests co-author Dr Hotez, founding dean of the first
National School of Tropical Medicine, at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston,
Texas, USA.
According to Dr Hotez, action taken must include mass
drug administration for trachoma and soil-transmitted helminth infections, and
vaccinations against canine rabies and cholera. To successfully strengthen
health systems in the region, such programmes require integration with
improvements in sanitation and access to clean water, vector management, and improved
surveillance.
Dr Hotez, along with co-authors Dr Lobo, Dr Raman
Velayudhan, Dr Priya Chatterjee, and Dr Harajeshwar Kohil, call for better
management of NTD programmes in South Asia in order to lessen the region’s NTD
burden.
Note: The report
can be accessed here: The
Neglected Tropical Diseases of India and South Asia: Review of Their
Prevalence, Distribution, and Control or Elimination