Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) include several parasitic, viral, and bacterial diseases that cause substantial illness for more than one billion people globally. Affecting the world’s poorest people, NTDs impair physical and cognitive development, contribute to mother and child illness and death, make it difficult to farm or earn a living, and limit productivity in the workplace. As a result, NTDs trap the poor in a cycle of poverty and disease.

NTDs are found in several countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. NTDs are especially common in tropical areas where people do not have access to clean water or safe ways to dispose of human waste.

Information on diseases included in the WHO portfolio of NTDs is available at https://www.who.int/teams/control-of-neglected-tropical-diseases.

See below for more information on selected neglected tropical diseases:

• Buruli Ulcer
• Chagas Disease
• Cysticercosis
• Dengue Fever
• Dracunculiasis (Guinea Worm Disease)
• Echinococcosis
• Fascioliasis
• Human African Trypanosomiasis (African Sleeping Sickness)
• Leishmaniasis
• Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease)
• Lymphatic Filariasis
• Mycetoma
• Onchocerciasis
• Rabies
• Schistosomiasis
• Soil-transmitted Helminths (STH) (Ascaris, Hookworm, and Whipworm)
• Trachoma

 Source: Global Health, Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, CDC