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World NTD Day 2025: Call to unite, act and eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases
Today, 30 January, on World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) calls upon the global community to unite, act and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium supports this call and is proud to be working hard to eliminate one of 21 recognized NTDs, schistosomiasis.
NTDs, often sidelined in global health discussions, are a diverse group of illnesses affecting over 1 billion people in poor and vulnerable communities. On World NTD Day we rally together to call on leaders and communities to commit sustainable funds in support of those facing the challenges of disease and poverty. The annual awareness day highlights the human suffering caused by these diseases and seeks to mobilize assistance for their control and elimination, in line with the goals of the WHO’s NTD road map 2021−2030.
Committed to fighting schistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia, is an NTD linked closely with poverty. It is one of the most prevalent parasitic diseases worldwide and has a high public health burden and economic impact. The infection rate is particularly high among children and at present, preschool-age children are left untreated in public health programs due to the lack of a suitable child-friendly treatment.
Established as the first partnership of its kind in schistosomiasis, the Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium has been working since 2012 to reduce the global disease burden of schistosomiasis by addressing the medical needs of children between the ages of three months and six years.
Our journey so far
After a positive opinion by the European Medicines Agency in 2023, last year our new pediatric treatment option for preschoolers with schistosomiasis was included in the WHO’s list of prequalified medicines.
Currently, we are working hard towards the launch of the ADOPT implementation studies in which the new treatment will start to be made available to preschoolers in the first African countries.
Karin de Ruiter, Access Team Program Manager at Lygature (coordinating partner of the Consortium)We are excited that the first preschool-aged children will be treated with our new pediatric treatment option in 2025. For the Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium, these pilots play a vital role in evaluating our treatment’s impact and are crucial steps towards contributing to the elimination of schistosomiasis.
Diseases of poverty, like schistosomiasis, must be overcome to deliver on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ensure universal health coverage. By developing, registering, and providing access to a new pediatric treatment option for schistosomiasis, the Consortium is making a tangible contribution to the elimination of this NTD as a public health problem and thereby also addressing the SDGs, in particular, SDGs 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing) & 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).