Nigeria could unlock $19 billion for the country’s economy by 2030 by eliminating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), according to a new report, but foreign aid cuts threaten advancements.
Nigeria carries the highest burden of NTDs in Africa — and the second globally: Some 51 million people require treatment for intestinal worms, and 38 million lack treatment for lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic disease that causes chronic swelling. But the launch of a mass drug administration program has allowed the country to treat around 100 million people for NTDs annually since 2019, The END Fund found, with the disease burden for some illnesses reducing by as much as 72%.
Progress is being made in other parts of the continent too: Last year, Burundi, Mauritania, and Senegal announced they had eliminated trachoma, a bacterial infection that untreated can lead to blindness. But aid cuts could derail the gains: One study estimated that 23,000 additional people have died worldwide from an NTD since USAID was shuttered last year. Aid cuts are “inevitably leaving the most vulnerable – women, children, people with disabilities, and remote communities – left out as funding tightens,” END wrote.
