WHO Report: Progress Against Neglected Tropical Diseases Is Fragile and Underfunded

By June 2026, sixty-three countries had eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease, up from forty-two at the end of 2020, and Togo became the first country to eliminate four. Yet in 2024, approximately 1.41 billion people still required interventions against these diseases—a 19% drop since 2020 and a 36% decline since 2010, but still a staggering burden concentrated in the world’s poorest communities. This stark contrast sits at the heart of the World Health Organization’s Global Report on Neglected Tropical Diseases 2026, released on November 4, which Health Policy Watch reported serves as a midterm evaluation of the 2021-2030 road map.

The report, detailed by both Health Policy Watch and the WHO, paints a picture of a global health effort moving at two different speeds. On one track, elimination is accelerating: cases of sleeping sickness have plummeted 98% since 1999, and Guinea worm disease fell to a record low of just 10 human cases in 2025. On the other, the number of people needing treatment remains enormous, and the systems designed to reach them are buckling under financial strain, climate disruption, and conflict.

Record Elimination Meets Record Dengue

The WHO notes that sixty-three countries have now eliminated at least one of the 21 NTDs it tracks, with Togo setting a precedent by clearing four diseases from its territory. Sleeping sickness, once a death sentence in rural Africa, has been driven down by 98% since 1999. Guinea worm disease, which once infected millions, recorded only 10 human cases in 2025.

Uniting to end neglected tropical diseases in Africa

But these victories exist alongside alarming reversals. Dengue cases reached a record 15.1 million in 2024, according to the WHO, while deaths from vector-borne NTDs have risen. Yaws eradication is off track. Only three disease-specific indicators—chikungunya vaccine development, reduced dengue case fatality rates, and the availability of WHO-recommended polyspecific antivenoms for snakebites—actually achieved their 2025 milestones. Meanwhile, schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths continue to impose heavy burdens of illness and disability on children in places like Tanzania, where preventative treatments are distributed but reach remains incomplete.

“Elimination of neglected tropical diseases is one of the standout success stories of global health,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “However, the hard-won gains we have made could easily be lost, so countries and partners must step up, not step back, by increasing domestic financing, sustaining external support and integrating NTD services into primary health care.”

Where the Money Went

The WHO found that international development assistance for NTDs remains highly concentrated, with a small number of donors supplying nearly 80% of total funding between 2018 and 2024. This concentration has made programs vulnerable to abrupt cuts that have disrupted mass treatment, case management, surveillance and vector control, and placed donated medicines at risk of expiring.

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Overall resources available for NTDs remain 30% below pre-COVID-19 levels, and dedicated funding for some programs has all but disappeared. Health Policy Watch identified lack of finance as the biggest barrier to progress, noting that the pace is “insufficient to achieve most 2030 targets” particularly regarding financing, mainstreaming into health systems, and extending interventions to populations in fragile and hard-to-reach settings.

“Sustainability has emerged as the defining constraint of our time, one that could delay the achievement of the 2030 targets,” said Dr Daniel Ngamije Madandi, WHO director of Malaria and NTDs. “New barriers demand innovative solutions, yet I am confident that the momentum generated by the road map endorsed by the World Health Assembly in 2020, together with its inherent flexibility, is strong enough to continue guiding the global response.”

Disease Spread Worsens from Climate and Conflict

Climate change is expanding the geographical spread of vector-borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya, whose transmission has soared due to urbanization, while extreme weather events disrupt service delivery. Conflict and displacement remain significant constraints in fragile settings, cutting off hard-to-reach populations from care.

63 countries had eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease (NTD) by June 2026, while the number of people requiring treatment and care fell to 1.41 billion in 2024. But progress remains uneven. Dengue cases have reached record levels, deaths from vector-borne NTDs are… pic.twitter.com/sA2CNdn1ZN

— https://x.com/WHO/status/2117972707950088304

Many NTD interventions are not yet part of national health systems or included in universal health coverage packages in most endemic countries. Weak surveillance, persistent supply chain constraints, and the loss of specialist expertise further weaken the response. The WHO notes that gaps in comprehensive and timely data, including data disaggregated by gender, make progress difficult to measure accurately. On a more hopeful note, the number of countries adopting the WHO-recommended skin NTD strategy has already exceeded the 2030 target, showing that integration can work when political will exists.

With five years remaining until 2030, the report calls on affected countries to increase domestic financing and integrate NTD interventions into universal health coverage, while urging donors to broaden support across interventions rather than concentrating funds on a few diseases. Whether that call is answered will determine if the 1.41 billion figure shrinks dramatically—or if the elimination successes prove to be the exception rather than the rule.