They spoke yesterday in Abuja at a roundtable organised by the Christian Medical Scientists and Basic Health Foundation to commemorate the World NTDs Day.
According to them, about 40 percent of the said population lives in Africa, explaining that NTDs are preventable and treatable, but cause disfigurement, disability and even death.CMESBAHF project assistant, Dele Fayemi, who lamented that Nigeria remained the country with the biggest NTD burden in Africa, urged the federal Government to further strengthen its preventive chemotherapy programme for all five diseases.
“Nigerian government should deliver systematic annual high-coverage implementation of all components, in all risk groups, as recommended by WHO. It should support the Expanded Special Project for Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases established by WHO Afro region for the elimination of these five diseases.”