Integration of control of neglected tropical diseases into health-care systems: challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Although progress has been made in the fight against neglected tropical diseases, current financial resources and global political commitments are insufficient to reach the World Health Assembly’s ambitious goals. Increased efforts are needed to expand global coverage. These efforts will involve national and international harmonisation and coordination of the activities of partnerships devoted to control or elimination of these diseases. Rational planning and integration into regular health systems is essential to scale up these interventions to achieve complete eradication of these diseases. Programmes with similar delivery strategies and interventions—such as those for onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, and soil-transmitted helminthiasis could be managed on the same platform and together. Furthermore, better-resourced programmes—such as those for malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis—could work closely with those for neglected tropical diseases to their mutual benefi t and the benefit of the entire health system.