Indicator 3.3.5 Number of people requiring interventions against neglected tropical diseases

Indicator 3.3.5: Number of people requiring interventions against neglected tropical diseases

Target 3.3: By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases

World Health Organization (WHO)

Definition:

Number of people requiring treatment and care for any one of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) targeted by the WHO NTD Roadmap and World Health Assembly resolutions and reported to WHO.

Concepts:

Treatment and care is broadly defined to allow for preventive, curative, surgical or rehabilitative treatment and care. In particular, it includes both:

1) Average annual number of people requiring mass treatment known as preventive chemotherapy (PC) for at least one PC-NTD; and

2) Number of new cases requiring individual treatment and care for other NTDs.

Other key interventions against NTDs (e.g. vector management, veterinary public health, water, sanitation and hygiene) are to be addressed in the context of other targets and indicators, namely Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and universal access to water and sanitation.

Number of people

Description:

The number of people requiring treatment and care for NTDs is measured by existing country systems, and reported through joint request and reporting forms for donated medicines, the WHO Integrated Data Platform, and other reports to WHO.

https://www.who.int/teams/control-of-neglected-tropical-diseases/data-platforms-and-tools

Country data are published via the WHO Global Health Observatory.

https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/neglected-tropical-diseases

National NTD programmes within Ministries of Health

Country reports may not be perfectly comparable over time. Improved surveillance and case-finding may lead to an apparent increase in the number of people known to require treatment and care. Some further estimation may be required to adjust for changes in surveillance and case-finding. Missing country reports may need to be imputed for some diseases in some years.

Some estimation is required to aggregate data across interventions and diseases. There is an established methodology that has been tested and an agreed international standard. [https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/241869/WER8702.PDF]

1) Average annual number of people requiring mass treatment known as PC for at least one PC-NTD (lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiases and trachoma). People may require PC for more than one PC-NTD. The number of people requiring PC is compared across the PC-NTDs, by age group and implementation unit (e.g. district). The largest number of people requiring PC is retained for each age group in each implementation unit. The total is considered to be a conservative estimate of the number of people requiring PC for at least one PC-NTD. Prevalence surveys determine when an NTD has been eliminated or controlled and PC can be stopped or reduced in frequency, such that the average annual number of people requiring PC is reduced.

2) Number of new cases requiring individual treatment and care for other NTDs: The number of new cases is based on country reports, whenever available, of new and known cases of Buruli ulcer, dengue, dracunculiasis, echinococcosis, human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), leprosy, the leishmaniases, rabies and yaws. Where the number of people requiring and requesting surgery for PC-NTDs (e.g. trichiasis or hydrocele surgery) is reported, it can be added here. Similarly, new cases requiring and requesting rehabilitation (e.g. leprosy or lymphoedema) can be added whenever available.

Populations referred to under 1) and 2) may overlap; the sum would overestimate the total number of people requiring treatment and care. The maximum of 1) or 2) is therefore retained at the lowest common implementation unit and summed to get conservative country, regional and global aggregates. By 2030, improved co-endemicity data and models will validate the trends obtained using this simplified approach.

2024-03-28

World Health Organization (WHO)

NTDs are formally recognized as targets for global action in SDG target 3.3, which calls to “end the epidemics of ... neglected tropical diseases” by 2030, as part of Goal 3 (Ensure healthy lives and ensure well-being for all at all ages). Successful interventions against NTDs contribute to meeting other SDGs, such as alleviating poverty (Goal 1) and hunger (Goal 2), enabling people to pursue an education (Goal 4) and lead productive working lives (Goal 8) and promoting equality, for example with regard to gender (Goals 5 and 10). Progress towards other Goals can accelerate the achievement of NTD goals. For example, wider provision of clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) (Goal 6) is believed to help to eliminate or control NTDs; the availability of resilient infrastructure (Goal 9) should facilitate delivery of medicines and outreach to remote communities; the goals of sustainable cities (Goal 11) and climate action (Goal 13) can support the environmental management necessary for control of disease vectors. Attaining all SDGs and NTD goals is founded on strong global partnerships (Goal 17).

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