By guest contributor Dr Soumya Swaminathan Women and girls account for 50% of the population. Despite this, health systems are ill-equipped to…
Celebrating World NTD Day 2022
Written by the PLOS NTDs Editorial Team
All of us at PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases — our managers, staff, Associate Editors, Deputy Editors, and Editors-in-Chief — applaud WHO’s celebration of World NTD Day 2022, and wholeheartedly support the goal of “calling on everyone to address the inequalities that characterize NTDs.” [1] We look forward to joining in this “opportunity to re-energize the momentum to end the suffering from these 20 diseases that are caused by a variety of pathogens including viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi and toxins.” [1]
When the first World NTD Day was celebrated on January 30, 2020, the scientific community was just beginning to ring the alarm regarding the emergence of SARS-COV-2 and the world as a whole had yet to be plunged into the realities of a pandemic. As we commemorate the 3rd annual World NTD Day, we’re faced with the reality that the proliferation of SARS-COV-2 across the globe has caused already limited resources allocated for the fight against neglected tropical diseases to be reallocated towards the support of strained public health systems. Apart from bringing about an end to COVID suffering in low and middle-income countries and vulnerable communities, the global scientific community must refocus attention onto endemic diseases that have been trapping generations of people in cycles of poverty due to their high morbidity, incidences of long-term disability, societal stigmatization, and overall impact on quality of life.
As a publisher during this pandemic, we’ve been heartened to see the continued submission of quality research dedicated to the prevention, treatment, and eradication of NTDs and vow to continue to do our part to advocate for the right of all human beings to live free of debilitating diseases.
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