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INNOVATION { Simple changes such as running up the stairs instead of taking a lift, taking a brisk walk after work, and doing gardening contribute to increased physical activity every week With an estimated 1 billion people receiving treatment in 2015 alone, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports remarkable achievements in tackling neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) NTDs: { we’re winning the war W hile neglected tropical diseases blind, maim, disfi gure, and debilitate hundreds of millions of people in urban slums and in the poorest parts of the world, approximately 90% of all NTDs can be treated with medicines that are administered once or twice annually. Following the release of the WHO report, Integrating • Only 25 human cases of Guinea-worm disease were reported in 2016, putting eradication within reach. • Cases of human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) have been reduced from 37 000 new cases in 1999 to well under 3000 cases in 2015. • Trachoma: the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness - has been eliminated as a public health neglected tropical diseases in global health and problem in Mexico, Morocco, and Oman. More than development, last month at the Global Partners’ Meeting 185 000 trachoma patients had surgery for trichiasis on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in Geneva, this worldwide and more than 56 million people received month the World Health Assembly will review proposals for a new Global vector control response. The WHO report demonstrates how strong political support, generous donations of medicines, and improvements in living conditions have led to sustained expansion of disease control programmes in countries where these diseases are most prevalent. “WHO has observed record-breaking progress towards bringing ancient scourges like sleeping sickness and antibiotics in 2015 alone. • Visceral leishmaniasis: in 2015 the target for elimination was achieved in 82% of sub-districts in India, 97% of sub-districts in Bangladesh, and in 100% of districts in Nepal. • Only 12 reported human deaths were attributable to rabies in the WHO Region of the Americas in 2015, bringing the region close to its target of eliminating rabies in humans by 2015. elephantiasis to their knees,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan. “Over the past 10 years, millions of people However, the report highlights the need to further scale up have been rescued from disability and poverty, thanks to action in other areas. one of the most eff ective global partnerships in modern public health”. Since 2007, when a group of global partners met to agree “Further gains in the fi ght against neglected tropical diseases will depend on wider progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Dr Dirk Engels, to tackle NTDs together, a variety of local and international Director of the Department of Control of Neglected partners have worked alongside ministries of health in Tropical Diseases. Meeting global targets for water and endemic countries to deliver quality-assured medicines, sanitation will be key. WHO estimates that 2.4 billion and provide people with care and long-term management. people still lack basic sanitation facilities such as In 2012, partners endorsed a WHO NTD roadmap, toilets and latrines, while more than 660 million committing additional support and resources to continue t