Neglected tropical diseases are a diverse group of infections and conditions that mainly affect poor communities in the tropics; the number of people who need treatment has fallen by more than a third since 2010, but well over a billion still do.
Updated October 13, 2026. Written from the sources listed below, not independently peer-reviewed.
How many people worldwide needed treatment or care for a neglected tropical disease in 2024?
1.41 billion
People requiring interventions against NTDs
Down 36% from 2.19 billion in 2010, even though the world population grew by more than 1 billion over the same period.
Data year 2024. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2026
65
Countries that have eliminated at least one NTD
As of September 2026, when WHO validated Bhutan as the first country in its South-East Asia Region to eliminate dog-transmitted human rabies.
Data year 2026. Source: World Health Organization, 2026
10
Human cases of Guinea worm disease
Provisional count for 2025 (4 in Chad, 4 in Ethiopia, 2 in South Sudan), down from 15 in 2024 and an estimated 3.5 million a year in 1986.
Data year 2025. Source: The Carter Center, 2026
Unit: billion people
Annual world totals for SDG indicator 3.3.5, compiled by WHO from country reports and published in the UN SDG Global Database; figures for 2010–2020 include WHO's imputation of incomplete reports. The number changed little between 2015 and 2020 and has fallen faster since. It counts people who need treatment or care for at least one NTD, not people infected.
SDG target 3.3 calls for ending the epidemics of neglected tropical diseases by 2030, tracked through the number of people who require NTD interventions. That number fell by 36% between 2010 and 2024, from 2.19 billion to 1.41 billion, far less than the 90% reduction that WHO's road map for 2021–2030 aims for. The elimination goal is closer: by December 2025, 59 countries, areas and territories had eliminated at least one NTD, against a target of 100 countries by 2030.
In the least developed countries, the share of the population needing NTD treatment and care fell from 79% in 2010 to 42% in 2024, which still amounts to 502 million people.
Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2026NTDs are concentrated in impoverished communities in tropical areas, and WHO notes that they disproportionately affect women and children.
Source: World Health Organization, 2025The burden is not limited to the poorest countries: more than 907 million people outside the least developed countries also needed NTD treatment and care in 2024.
Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2026Beyond the illness itself, people affected by NTDs often live with disability, stigma, social exclusion and discrimination, and the costs put considerable financial strain on their families.
Source: World Health Organization, 2025Each country is shaded by its latest available value, so you can see where the gap is widest. Hover or tap a country, search for one, or open the full table.
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Values in people.
Number of people reported to WHO as needing mass preventive treatment or individual treatment and care for at least one NTD (SDG indicator 3.3.5), latest year available per country (currently 2024 everywhere; years can differ). This is an absolute count, not a share of the population, so populous countries stand out (India alone accounts for over half a billion people); it measures need for services, not infections, and a value of 0 means no need was reported.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory, via Our World in Data. Latest year available per country; years differ.
Values load from Our World in Data. Simplified Natural Earth borders; they imply no position on disputed territories.
Instead of one “percent solved” score, DO GOOD rates three separate dimensions. A problem can have mature solutions that still reach too few people. These ratings are an editorial reading of the sources on this page, not a measured index.
Has the situation improved in the real world?
ModerateBetween 2010 and 2024 the number of people needing NTD interventions fell by 36%, and in the least developed countries the share of the population needing care fell from 79% to 42%. Still, 1.41 billion people required treatment or care in 2024.
How mature and validated are the available solutions?
ModerateDonated medicines for mass treatment, trachoma surgery, dog vaccination and Guinea worm containment are well proven and have allowed dozens of countries to eliminate a disease. For other conditions, such as noma and Buruli ulcer, the burden is poorly known or progress in finding and treating cases is slow, and WHO lists diagnostics among the four areas with the greatest unmet needs.
How widely are effective solutions actually used?
ModerateMore than 880 million people were treated for at least one NTD in 2024, 99% of them through mass drug administration. Yet about 1.4 billion people still required interventions that year, and progress in expanding water, sanitation and hygiene, which helps prevent reinfection, has slowed or stagnated.
The headline indicator is compiled from country reports to WHO and measures need for services rather than infection, while deaths and DALYs are modelled estimates whose latest year is 2021. WHO says a lack of high-quality, timely and comprehensive data is hindering progress, and the burden of some conditions, such as noma, is largely unknown.
Eliminations are becoming more frequent, with WHO acknowledging 6 countries in 2023, 7 in 2024 and 9 in 2025, and only 15 human Guinea worm cases were reported in 2024. Against this, aid for NTDs fell by 41% between 2018 and 2023 before further cuts in 2025, and climate change, conflict and stalled progress on water and sanitation threaten the gains.
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of conditions caused by viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi and toxins. They range from intestinal worms, trachoma and river blindness to sleeping sickness, rabies, dengue and snakebite envenoming. Many are spread by insects or other vectors, and some also circulate in animals. Many cause long-term disability, pain, blindness or disfigurement rather than sudden death, although WHO still estimates about 120,000 deaths and 14.1 million years of healthy life lost to them each year. People affected often face stigma, social exclusion and discrimination, and their families carry considerable costs.
The burden falls mainly on impoverished communities in tropical areas, and WHO notes that women and children are disproportionately affected. Progress has been substantial: the number of people who need NTD interventions fell from 2.19 billion in 2010 to 1.41 billion in 2024, 65 countries had eliminated at least one NTD by September 2026, and Guinea worm disease is close to eradication. But international aid for NTDs fell by 41% between 2018 and 2023 and was cut further in 2025, progress on water, sanitation and hygiene has stalled, and conflict and climate change are disrupting services and spreading vector-borne diseases into new areas.
There is no single count of people infected with all NTDs. WHO and the SDG framework track them with several complementary measures:
People requiring interventions (SDG indicator 3.3.5)
The number of people who need mass preventive treatment or individual treatment and care for at least one NTD, as reported by countries to WHO. Where the two groups overlap, people are counted once. It measures the need for medical services, not the number of people infected or at risk.
Disease burden estimates
Modelled estimates of deaths and of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), which add up years lost to early death and years lived with disability. They lag several years behind; the latest are for 2021.
Elimination
WHO acknowledges a country once it has shown, through a formal validation, verification or certification process, that a disease is no longer a public health problem or that its transmission has stopped. WHO's 2021–2030 road map aims for at least 100 countries to have eliminated at least one NTD by 2030, alongside a 90% cut in the number of people requiring interventions and a 75% cut in NTD-related DALYs.
Eradication
Permanently reducing a disease to zero cases worldwide. Two NTDs are targeted for eradication: dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease) and yaws. Countries are certified one by one; WHO has certified 200 countries as free of Guinea worm.
What works
Whole at-risk communities receive safe, inexpensive medicines at regular intervals, whether or not each person has been diagnosed, which reduces infection and prevents disability from intestinal worms, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, river blindness and trachoma. In 2024 more than 880 million people were treated for at least one NTD, 99% through mass drug administration. As of December 2025, 12 manufacturers were donating 19 types of medicine, and more than 31 billion tablets and vials had been delivered since 2011, 1.8 billion of them in 2024.
Limits
Treatment has to be repeated, often for many years, before transmission stops, and people can be reinfected where water, sanitation and hygiene are poor. Donated medicines still need funded delivery, and WHO reports that falling aid has severely disrupted NTD programmes.
What works
WHO's SAFE strategy combines surgery for the advanced, blinding stage of the disease, antibiotics to clear infection, facial cleanliness and environmental improvement such as better water and sanitation. The number of people needing trachoma interventions fell from 285 million in 2010 to 113.8 million in 2024, and WHO validated 12 countries as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem between 2023 and 2025.
Limits
Surgery depends on trained surgeons reaching remote communities, and the hygiene and environmental components rely on water and sanitation services that lie outside the health sector.
What works
Mobile teams test people living in affected areas and treat those who are infected, which removes the human reservoir of the parasite. Cases of the gambiense form of human African trypanosomiasis have become rare: 10 countries reported a total of 546 in 2024, and several countries have been validated as having eliminated it as a public health problem.
Limits
Twenty-four countries remain endemic and none has yet stopped transmission completely, so screening and surveillance must continue even when few cases are found. Conflict and insecurity can cut teams off from affected areas.
What works
Dogs are the source of up to 99% of human rabies infections, so vaccinating dogs stops the virus at its origin, while prompt post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) after a bite prevents the disease from developing. Bhutan, which provides free PEP in all 20 of its districts, has recorded no human deaths from dog-transmitted rabies since June 2023 and was validated by WHO in September 2026.
Limits
PEP must be available and affordable close to where bites happen, dog vaccination campaigns have to be repeated to keep coverage high, and success depends on human and animal health services working together.
What works
With no vaccine or medicine available, the campaign relies on finding every case quickly, keeping infected people from entering water sources, filtering drinking water and treating ponds. Human cases fell from an estimated 3.5 million a year in 1986 to 10 provisional cases in 2025, and national programmes investigated more than 1 million rumoured cases in 2025, nearly all within 24 hours.
Limits
Infections in dogs and other animals, reported mainly from Cameroon, Chad and Angola in 2025, keep the parasite in circulation, so measures aimed at people alone cannot finish the job.
Promising, but not proven at scale. The stage shows how far each approach has come; it is not a recommendation.
Instead of running separate campaigns for each disease, countries are combining services, managing skin-related NTDs together and including NTDs in national health strategies and primary health care. WHO reports growing integration, but there is still little evidence on whether it keeps coverage high once external funding falls.
A five-year pilot of a Supply Chain Technical Support Mechanism started in eight priority African countries to help national programmes manage the forecasting, storage and distribution of NTD medicines themselves. Whether it improves availability in a lasting way, and can be extended to other countries, is not yet known.
WHO prequalified a new dengue vaccine in 2024, which makes it eligible for purchase through UN agencies. Vaccines add to mosquito control and good clinical care rather than replacing them, and countries are still working out which age groups and settings should be prioritised.
Several NTDs, including leprosy, yaws and Buruli ulcer, first appear as skin changes that frontline health workers may not recognise. WHO has developed an AI-powered Skin App to help with recognition and carried out its first field assessment in Kenya in 2024; its accuracy and value in routine care are still being evaluated.
Implementation gap
Official development assistance for NTDs fell by 41% between 2018 and 2023, and major cuts in 2025 continued the trend. WHO reports that NTD programmes are severely disrupted by reduced funding and calls for prioritisation and more domestic resources.
Coordination gap
Many NTDs spread where people lack safe water, toilets and hygiene, so medicines alone cannot prevent reinfection. WHO reports that progress in expanding these services has slowed or stagnated, and they depend on sectors outside health.
Technology gap
WHO lists diagnostics among the four areas with the greatest unmet needs. Programmes need simple, accurate tests to decide when mass treatment can stop and to confirm elimination, and WHO has published 27 target product profiles that set out what such new tests and other products should achieve.
Knowledge gap
WHO says a lack of high-quality, timely and comprehensive data is hindering progress. Collection of data broken down by gender has stalled, and the burden of noma, added to the NTD list in 2023, is still largely unknown.
Knowledge gap
In 2025 Cameroon reported 445 animal infections, Chad 147 and Angola 70 (provisional), far more than the 10 human cases worldwide. The global animal total rose slightly, driven by Cameroon and Angola, so eradication now depends on stopping transmission in animals as well as in people.
Implementation gap
Conflicts, migration, humanitarian crises and instability disrupt access to NTD interventions and further compromise equity, while climate change continues to expand vector-borne diseases into new areas.
Unresolved questions, not vetted breakthroughs. Answering any of them would change what is possible.
How can programmes judge with confidence that transmission has stopped and mass drug administration can end, and how should they watch for resurgence afterwards with limited funds?
How exactly do dogs and other animals become infected, and which combination of measures can interrupt transmission in them quickly enough to complete eradication?
How will rising temperatures and changing rainfall shift where dengue and other vector-borne NTDs are transmitted, and how should surveillance and control adapt?
Which ways of integrating NTD care into primary health care and national budgets keep treatment coverage and surveillance high when external funding and donated delivery support decline?
Organisations that support mass treatment, trachoma surgery or Guinea worm surveillance rely on donations. Look for groups that publish independent evaluations and cost data before you give.
Much NTD work depends on international aid, which has been falling. Letting elected representatives know that you support global health funding is one of the few ways individuals can influence it.
Where dengue or other insect-borne diseases occur, protect yourself against mosquito bites. After a bite or scratch from a dog or other animal that could carry rabies, wash the wound and seek medical advice promptly, and keep your own dogs vaccinated.
People affected by leprosy and other NTDs still face discrimination. Using respectful, person-first language and correcting myths in your own circles can make it easier for people to seek care.
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United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, published 2026
Official UN progress report on the SDGs, with WHO data for indicator 3.3.5. Source of the fall in people requiring NTD interventions from 2.19 billion in 2010 to 1.41 billion in 2024 (36%), the population-growth comparison, the share of people needing care in the least developed countries (79% to 42%, 502 million), the 907 million outside them, and the 59 countries, areas and territories with at least one NTD eliminated by December 2025 against a target of 100 by 2030.
United Nations Statistics Division (data from the WHO Global Health Observatory), published 2026
Official annual world series for 2010–2024, used for the trend chart (2.19 billion in 2010, 1.80 billion in 2015, 1.73 billion in 2020, 1.62 billion in 2022, 1.41 billion in 2024). Values for 2010–2020 include imputation of incomplete country reports. The same figures appear in WHO's Global Health Observatory (indicator SDGNTDTREATMENT, updated March 2026).
World Health Organization, Executive Board (7 January 2026), published 2026
WHO's latest official progress report on the NTD road map, covering 2024 and 2025. Source of the 1.4 billion people requiring interventions in 2024, more than 880 million treated (99% through mass drug administration), DALY and death estimates up to 2021, countries acknowledged per year (6, 7 and 9 in 2023–2025), trachoma (285 million to 113.8 million people needing interventions, 12 countries validated in 2023–2025), sleeping sickness (546 gambiense cases in 2024, 24 endemic countries), medicine donations (12 manufacturers, 19 medicines, more than 31 billion tablets and vials since 2011), the 41% fall in aid, the dengue vaccine, the Skin App field assessment, 27 target product profiles, the supply chain pilot, and the gaps in diagnostics, data, WASH, conflict and climate.
World Health Organization, published 2025
WHO's overview page (undated; its figures match the Global report on neglected tropical diseases 2025). Source of the definition and list of the 21 NTDs, the four overarching road map targets for 2030 (90% fewer people requiring treatment, 75% fewer DALYs, at least 100 countries eliminating at least one NTD, eradication of dracunculiasis and yaws), the estimate of about 120,000 deaths and 14.1 million DALYs a year, and who is most affected.
World Health Organization (news release, 4 September 2026), published 2026
Source of the count of 65 countries that had eliminated at least one NTD as of September 2026, the share of human rabies caused by dogs (up to 99%), and Bhutan's free post-exposure prophylaxis in all 20 districts and absence of human deaths since June 2023.
The Carter Center (news release, 30 January 2026), published 2026
Annual announcement by the organisation that leads the eradication campaign with WHO. Source of the 10 provisional human cases in 2025 by country, the 15 cases in 2024, the estimated 3.5 million cases a year in 1986, animal infections by country, more than 1 million rumoured cases investigated in 2025, and the 200 countries certified free of Guinea worm. All 2025 figures are provisional until confirmed by national programmes.