Storage of stool samples for molecular detection of soil-transmitted helminth (STH) species remains a challenge for the molecular diagnostic of STH infections. This study was designed to assess the capacity of whatman filter papers for the storage of stool samples for molecular detection of STH species.

Although several protocols have been developed to extract DNA for the diagnostic of soil-transmitted helminths (STHs), amplifying these extracts remains a challenge due to DNA polymerase inhibitors. This study aimed to determine stool mass, the type of DNA polymerase and assess a DNA extraction method for efficient molecular detection of STHs.

Preventive chemotherapy (PC) that remains the main control strategy recommended by the World Health Organization to achieve the elimination of soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections as a public health problem must be strengthened by identifying the remaining transmission hot-spots for the deployment of appropriate control measures. This study was designed to perform micro scale mapping in order to identify transmission hot-spots of STH infections for targeted control operations.

In northern Uganda, a region fraught by years of civil war, [nodding syndrome] reached epidemic proportions between 1997 and 2012, then declined. Many experts believe nodding syndrome is related to the parasitic roundworm Onchocerca volvulus, even if indirectly. The World Health Organization has noted that there's strong evidence that river blindness, an illness caused by the roundworm, which is transmitted by black flies, is connected.

After three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, health systems in countries have started showing the first major signs of health system recovery, according to the WHO interim report on the “Fourth round of the global pulse survey on continuity of essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic: November 2022–January 2023”.  By early 2023, countries reported experiencing reduced disruptions in the delivery of routine health services, but highlighted the need to invest in recovery and stronger resilience for the future.

This toolkit provides step-by-step guidance to NTD programme managers and partners on how to engage and work collaboratively with the WASH community to improve delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene services to underserved population affected by many neglected tropical diseases. The toolkit draws on tools and practices used in the delivery of coordinated and integrated programmes for control, elimination and eradication of NTDs. This second edition include revisions and new tools based on experiences of using the toolkit in more than 20 countries. 

Climate change is making tropical diseases everybody's problem. As greenhouse-gas emissions make our planet hotter and wetter, disease-spreading mosquitoes are thriving — possibly into countries where insect-carried pestilence hasn't previously been endemic. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the "world's deadliest animal" is the mosquito, which by some estimates, kills 500,000 to more than a million people per year. The main reason mosquitoes are so deadly? They are a vector for disease, particularly malaria.

Yaws is a skin disease caused by T. pallidum pertenue bacteria and is one of the neglected tropical diseases targeted for eradication by 2030. In Indonesia, 74 out of 514 districts are considered endemic for yaws. But in September 2022, five yaws suspected cases were reported from Gunung Kidul, a non-endemic district, and Fakfak, an endemic district with a history of total community treatment.

Uniting to Combat NTDs has launched a brand new website! It’s more accessible and easy to navigate with the latest news and NTD data. 

An estimated 7,000 people in Rwanda are affected by podoconiosis, a non-infectious form of elephantiasis caused by long-term contact with irritant red clay soil of volcanic origins, according to the World Health Organisation.