The number of countries recognised as having eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease (NTD) has risen to 63, up from 42 at the end of 2020, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Its Global Report on Neglected Tropical Diseases 2026 reviews progress halfway through the agency’s 2021–2030 road map. It says 1.41 billion people required interventions for NTDs in 2024.
That figure was 36% lower than in 2010 and 19% below the total recorded in 2020. Guinea worm infections also reached a global low in 2025, when 10 human cases were reported.
Ghana is one of the leading countries in the WHO African Region, having eliminated three NTDs. It was certified free of Guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis) in 2015, eliminated trachoma in 2018 and ended transmission of the gambiense form of human African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, in 2023.
The country was the world’s second most endemic for Guinea worm in the 1990s before securing certification. It later became the first country in WHO’s African Region to eliminate trachoma.
Worldwide, sleeping sickness cases have fallen by 98% since 1999. WHO attributed the reduction to stronger surveillance and newly approved treatments, including child-friendly arpraziquantel for schistosomiasis and generic miltefosine for leishmaniasis.
“Elimination of neglected tropical diseases is one of the standout success stories of global health,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the report.
“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.”
The report also warned that dengue cases reached a record 15.1 million globally in 2024. Ghana experienced a similar trend, recording a dengue fever outbreak across several regions.
WHO said progress towards eradicating yaws remained off track, while funding for NTD programmes was still 30% below pre-COVID-19 levels.
A small group of donors provided nearly 80% of international aid for NTD programmes between 2018 and 2024, highlighting the sector’s reliance on a limited number of funding sources.
The agency called on governments to increase domestic health and vaccine financing as part of efforts to reach its target of 100 countries eliminating at least one NTD by 2030.
