Neglected tropical diseases are a group of 20 diseases found mostly in tropical regions that are strongly associated with poverty. Among them are skin diseases like scabies, leprosy and yaws. They are caused by some bacteria, viruses, mosquitoes or mites and, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), they affect more than one billion people worldwide, mainly in lower-income settings.
These skin diseases are particularly common in most African countries. For example the estimated at-risk population on the continent requiring intervention for lymphatic filariasis (an abnormal enlargement of body parts, causing pain, severe disability) was 341 million in 2020. And 99 percent cases of onchoerciasis also known as river blindness occur on the continent.
